Three-hour recovery effort after Range Rover rolls on Fraser Island beach

A balmy beach drive has turned soggy for a group of tourists on Fraser Island, when the Range Rover they were in rolled and ended up buried tyre-deep in sand and sea.

The four-wheel drive rolled on Tuesday, when paramedics attended the incident, but couldn’t be recovered until yesterday.

By the time recovery crews arrived, only the vehicle’s tires, underside and part of the bonnet was visible above the soft, wet sand.

Amazingly, none of the car’s four occupants were injured in the crash.

Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) said it was “a timely reminder to drive to the conditions, know your vehicle’s limitations and be aware of tide times”.

It took three hours for an excavator and a tow truck to recover the vehicle, which had to be dug out, rolled upright and then mounted onto the tow truck and wheeled away.

The owner of Fraser Island and Rainbow Beach Towing, the company charged with towing the vehicle, said tides had prevented the car being recovered on Tuesday afternoon.

“Our driver went out at 3am, but by the time he got there the tide had covered it with sand and he couldn’t recover it by himself,” owner Carolyn Elder said.

She said the accident was “definitely preventable”.

"They were driving at high tide, they were inexperienced.”