By Peter Bodkin

A TEENAGE boy has been charged with killing three people in a multi-car crash after he allegedly stole a Mercedes from a Queensland home.

The 13-year-old was allegedly driving the stolen car when it crashed into the back of a Holden on Saltwater Creek Rd in Maryborough about 10.45pm on Sunday.

The Holden then hit a Mazda travelling in the opposite direction, killing the second car’s driver and sole occupant, a 52-year-old Torquay woman.

The driver and passenger of the Holden, a 17-year-old Oakhurst girl and 29-year-old Maryborough woman, also died at the scene.

A second passenger in the Holden, a 23-year-old Tinana woman, was airlifted to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in a critical condition.

Police said a passenger in the Mercedes was believed to have fled the scene of the crash, while the 13-year-old sustained minor injuries to his foot during the crash.

The Bundaberg boy had allegedly taken the Mercedes from a home in Maryborough about two hours before the fatal crash.

He was charged with three counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

The teen is due to appear in Maroochydore Children’s Court at a later date.

The charges come six weeks after Queensland passed a suite of measures designed to drive down youth crime, including harsher prison terms for car thieves.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Monday said her heart went out to the grieving families.

“This is an awful awful tragedy and it should not be happening,” she told reporters.

Opposition leader David Crisafulli described the incident as “heartbreaking on so many levels”.

“The madness has to end, it’s devastating,” he said.