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Ika Lauchlan: Baldivis crash victim was thinking ‘the worst’ when car hurtled towards her

The West Australian
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Ika Lauchlan was less than two kilometres from home when the horrifying crash happened along Sixty Eight Road in Baldivis on September 27 when it collided with an Audi A3, driven by 24-year-old Jaziah Thomas and carrying three of his friends.
Camera IconIka Lauchlan was less than two kilometres from home when the horrifying crash happened along Sixty Eight Road in Baldivis on September 27 when it collided with an Audi A3, driven by 24-year-old Jaziah Thomas and carrying three of his friends. Credit: GoFundMe/GoFundMe

A mother-of-three that was one of just two survivors in a head-on collision that killed three young men has revealed what she was feeling as the car came hurtling towards her.

Ika Lauchlan was less than two kilometres from home when the horrifying crash happened along Sixty Eight Road in Baldivis on September 27 when it collided with an Audi A3, driven by 24-year-old Jaziah Thomas and carrying three of his friends.

The aged care nurse said she thought she was going to die as she saw the car come towards her.

Ika Lauchlan, 44, was driving her Kia Stinger along Sixty Eight Road in Baldivis just after 5pm Wednesday evening when it collided with an Audi A3, driven by 24-year-old Jaziah Thomas and carrying three of his friends.
Camera IconIka Lauchlan, 44, was driving her Kia Stinger along Sixty Eight Road in Baldivis just after 5pm Wednesday evening when it collided with an Audi A3, driven by 24-year-old Jaziah Thomas and carrying three of his friends. Credit: Unknown/Supplied

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“When I saw this white car coming right at me at that kind of speed I’m thinking the worst,” Ms Lauchlan told 9NEWS.

“I ended up like a pinball machine being thrown around left and right inside my car.”

The force of the crash was so severe that Mr Thomas and brothers Kody and William Bell, aged 24 and 21, respectively, died at the scene.

Ms Lauchlan and the fourth man in the Audi — 21-year-old Tyler Rowe — miraculously survived.

“Two of us are lucky. I could’ve been one of them,” she said.

But the crash has left her angry as she has a long road to recovery ahead after she tore ligaments in her spine and leg, and has a broken foot. The collision has also impacted her mental health as she gets panic attacks every time she drives past the crash site.

“I am angry, very angry because I didn’t ask for this,” Ms Lauchlan said.

“I know things happen but look at me now.”

Ms Lauchlan still needs surgery on her foot and is expected to wait eight months before she is physically fit for work.

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