Ferry bad day: Unlucky tourists see 4WD go overboard (VIDEO)

For one group of backpackers in Australia, their New Year holiday plans went a little overboard after their four-wheel-drive rolled off the back of a barge while en-route to an isolated island. Luckily, there were no occupants in the vehicle at the time.

Footage of the incident, filmed by Chlöe Swift, shows the moment the vehicle made its final trip, slowly sinking to its watery grave before the group of tourists got a chance to begin their holiday on Fraser Island.

“Those poor people. All their stuff is in there as well,” one witness can be heard saying during the video, as passengers on the barge stand around in shock, some screaming while others are presumably relieved it wasn’t their vehicle.

"There were a lot of girls obviously crying. Their phones and everything are in the car that sunk,” Swift told ABC. "The guys took it quite well but a lot of the girls were crying and a lot of people haven't rung their families because they are so upset right now.”

No one was in the vehicle at the time, with Swift claiming she was told it was now 60 meters under water, along with phones, debit cards and passports.

One man did try to prevent the disaster when he saw it start to roll, grabbing it by the bull bar. "It skidded along for a bit, he let it go, and it proceeded to just roll over the back and into the water where it stayed up for about 30 seconds before it sunk down,” Katrina Lawrence told ABC.

The owners of the boat, Manta Ray Fraser Island Barges, did not comment on the incident, but have confirmed they've launched an investigation. The four wheel drive belonged to Rainbow Beach Adventure Company, who also haven’t commented.