Two Australian women holidaying in Namibia have died after their tour truck lost a wheel and overturned.
Brisbane nurse Sarah Penberthy, 22, and her 26-year-old friend Jarrah Young, a Gold Coast veterinarian, were killed when the overland truck they were travelling in swerved and rolled near Usakos on Wednesday, the ABC reports
Ms Young's brother, Joel Young, was also on the tour bus when it crashed and suffered cuts to his legs and feet after being thrown 35 metres in the smash.
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Police said a wheel had broken off the truck and was found some distance from the crash site.
"The department can confirm that two Australians (one from NSW, one from Queensland) died as a result of a tour truck accident in Usakos, Namibia on 8 February 2012," a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said.
Two other Australians, including the driver of the vehicle, were injured in the crash as well as a number of other tourists.
Ms Penberthy was one of 12 passengers on an African Trails overland truck, taking part in a Malawi-to-Cape Town tour. Tourists from Britain, the Philippines, the Netherlands and Germany were also in the vehicle when it overturned.
Police are still investigating how the incident, which involved no other vehicles, occurred.
Ms Penberthy was scheduled to return home in two weeks after going on a four-month tour of east Africa.
Ms Young had been working as a veterinarian in Kenya for the past year.
Her mother, Andrea Harris said she wanted her daughter to be remembered as a "sunny, focussed and driven girl".
Mrs Harris said she learned of her daughter's death when her son called her from hospital early in the morning.
"He had the worst job anyone could have," Mrs Harris said.
"Life is short, and it's there to be lived. I'm so pleased Jarrah lived it to the full, and in a way that gave back to society."
Friends of Ms Penberthy have used her Facebook page to express their sorrow.
"You were meant to be here to deliver my children, and to be my maid of honour one day and grow old with me but instead you left your legacy doing exactly what you wanted to do — adventure," one commenter wrote.
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