DOUBLE TRAGEDY
Two dead on Far North roads leaves police begging motorists to take care
THE traumatised friends of two men critically injured in separate crashes on the Tablelands tried desperately to save their lives before their tragic deaths within hours of each other on two remote roads at the weekend.
THE traumatised friends of two men critically injured in separate crashes on the Tablelands tried desperately to save their lives before their tragic deaths on two remote roads.
The men, a 62-year-old Manunda man and a young 21year-old from Julatten, died within hours of each other on Saturday afternoon after single-vehicle crashes, one involving a motorbike and the other an ATV.
The older man was a motorcycling enthusiast on an overnight group ride with two friends to Einsleigh, while the younger was riding the ATV with his closest friends, a young couple, before the driver lost control and crashed down an embankment outside Mount Molloy, rolling and trapping him.
Tablelands police Acting Inspector Greg Giles said investigations into both crashes were continuing as he begged motorists to take care on the road.
“It has been an absolutely tragic weekend in the Mareeba area,” he said. “We’ve got two families now preparing for funerals for their loved ones because of these tragedies.
“It is a timely reminder that we need to be careful on the roads, because these men were both vulnerable road users on a motorbike and an ATV.”
Initial investigations into the motorbike crash suggest the man and two friends set out from Cairns on Saturday morning, stopping for a break and fuel in Dimbulah before heading south on Almanden Gingerella Rd southeast of Chillagoe.
A police spokesman said the trio had only just entered an unsealed section of the road when the 62-year-old, who was riding in the middle of the group, hit a sandy build-up and was thrown from his bike.
His two friends tried desperately to save him, setting off an EPIRB which was intercepted by a light aircraft overhead which swooped low enough to see them attempting to revive him using CPR.
Paramedics and police rushed to the remote scene, but the man was pronounced dead.
The friends of the young Julatten man involved in the ATV crash on Quaids Rd also tried to help him before emergency services arrived, but he too could not be revived.
The pair, a man and woman aged in their early 20s, were treated for minor injuries at Mareeba Hospital. They also underwent mandatory drug and alcohol blood tests with police investigating whether alcohol may have been a factor.
A 21-year-old was also treated in hospital for minor injuries after falling from a motorbike while mustering cattle on Saturday afternoon near Mount Garnet.