Highway nightmare
POLICE have confirmed the death of a Cloncurry man, 43, in Thursday’s horrific head- on crash near Mount Isa.
Detective Inspector Chris Hodgman said the Barkly Highway crash, involving two semi- trailers and a car, was one of the worst he had seen.
At 5pm on Thursday, the Cloncurry man was driving east on the highway and collided with a gravel truck, carrying three carriages, travelling west.
A cattle truck behind the gravel truck had to take evasive action and ran off the road.
It was on fire by the time firefighters arrived and several cattle had to be put down.
“It was one of the most horrific crashes most of the officers out here have witnessed,” Inspector Hodgman said.
“We’ve had to put mechanisms in place to support them, to ensure the health and welfare of our officers.”
Insp Hodgman said the man was travelling alone. His family were informed and police released his age yesterday. He said more than a dozen Mount Isa police, including specialist squads and uniformed officers, attended the scene 10km east of the northwest regional centre.
Officers worked through- out the night to document the scene and clear the road.
“The highway was opened just after 7am. They removed ( the semi- trailer) from the road with a crane and it’s been taken back to Mount Isa, to a holding yard,” Insp Hodgman said.
“Most ( motorists) were advised pretty quickly through media teams, which prevented the traffic backing up.
“A lot of people turned back. It took a long time to clean – there was a lot of debris.”
The Forensic Crash Unit is preparing a report for the Coroner. No charges have been laid in relation to the crash.
“That could take a couple of months, it’s quite a detailed and technical report,” Insp Hodgman said.
The gravel truck driver was taken to Mount Isa Hospital with suspected spinal injuries and the cattle truck driver was uninjured in the incident.
The fire, contained to the cattle truck and surrounding grass, was extinguished by early Thursday night.
Insp Hodgman said he was unable to comment on the likely cause of the crash or whether high speed, fatigue, drugs or alcohol may have been contributing factors.