Two people have been charged after allegedly stealing a car with a baby girl in the back in central Queensland.

A mother was packing the boot of her SUV at a shopping centre in Yeppoon just after noon on Wednesday when a woman got into the driver’s seat and drove off with a four-month-old baby girl in the back seat.

The woman realised the child was inside, returned to the scene and demanded the mother take her daughter out of the car.

The child was safely removed, and the woman drove away in the stolen Nissan Patrol, hitting two people in the car park.

The baby was not physically injured but the incident was deeply distressing for the family, Detective Acting Inspector Luke Peachey told reporters on Thursday.

“She’s got a sleeping three-month-old daughter in the back and would have only taken a matter of minutes to just load those (groceries). She wasn’t leaving the car, she was only loading the car,” he said.

“It appears the vehicle was stopped as it was driving out by passers(by) who were alerted to the mother screaming out, ‘My child’s in the vehicle’,” he said.

A 16-year-old male and a 39-year-old woman who tried to intervene were both treated for leg injuries and taken to Yeppoon Hospital. 

Police found the stolen vehicle about 4pm and a man, 36, and a woman, 24, were taken into custody. 

The pair were charged with offences including child abduction, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

The charges were mentioned in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on Thursday.