Terrified family forced to reverse at high speed after being confronted by 'gun-wielding carjackers' on country road

A family have described how they dramatically escaped 'gun-wielding' would-be carjackers - by reversing at high speed down a country road.

Roxy Steljic, her husband and their two young children, aged six and eight, claim they were set upon as they drove along the road in Sogeri, Papua New Guinea.

The Australian family were returning from sight-seeing on Saturday when they say they noticed the grey car in front of them driving erratically.

Ms Steljic said at first they thought the vehicle was being driven by a 'bad drunk driver'.

Ms Steljic's husband managed to reverse up the road at high speed and swerve around the car behind them.

The couple, who both work in Papua New Guinea, reported the alleged attack to the police and the Australian mum uploaded the dashcam footage to her Facebook page.

Papua New Guinea has a very high crime rate and foreign governments ask that visitors take extra care when travelling there.

Violent crimes , including armed robbery, carjacking and sexual assault, are common throughout the country, especially in urban areas such as Port Moresby, Lae and Mt Hagen, according to safetravel.govt .