SADNESS filled the halls of Lockyer District High School yesterday as students and staff learnt of the tragic drowning death of teenager Dalton Moule.

Dalton, 14, was killed when he was swept away in raging flood waters at Junction View on Saturday night.

Principal Andrew Pierpoint paid tribute to the popular student who had already overcome tremendous adversity in his short life.

Dalton suffered life-threatening, third-degree burns to 80 per cent of his body when a gas hot water system exploded in the family’s Brisbane home when he was three-and-a-half years old.

He was engulfed in the fireball until his mother Vanessa ran through a three-metre wall of flames to save him.

The fire was so intense Vanessa accidentally dropped Dalton when his skin melted off in her hands.

He endured multiple surgeries in Brisbane and the United States, but the accident left him wheelchair-bound.

Mr Pierpoint said Dalton, who was in year 9, had made many friends since he started high school last year.

“He was a lovely lad and had a wicked sense of humour.

“He came into our school as a young boy and he matured into a young man.

“He had a great group of friends and was very loved and respected by students and staff alike.”

Mr Pierpoint informed students of the tragedy during an assembly yesterday.

Grief counsellors are helping the school community.

“We’ve got quite a few very upset students and staff.”

Dalton’s disabilities did not hold him back.

The teenager loved riding his motorcycle at the Black Duck Valley motocross park, which is owned by his grandparents Greg and Kate Diete.

Dalton, his younger brother Declan, 6, his mother Vanessa and his step-father Scott Diete had returned from Redland Bay after spending two days fishing and swimming.

Scott was following the trio in his 4WD and watched as the family’s car was swept off a causeway by a wall of water just before 8.30pm.