Alex Easton Chief Reporter
GREG Smith could see the silhouette of a driver moving in the cabin of the burning tanker when it exploded with a mighty whump, shaking the earth and shooting flames more than 25 metres into the air, burning the eyebrows from Mr Smith’s face.
The driver never stood a chance.
Only moments earlier, Mr Smith had narrowly avoided being hit by the B-double as it careened south down Tintenbar Hill on the Pacific Highway toward Sandy Flat about 11.50am yesterday.
Mr Smith said he did a sharp U-turn to avoid the truck as it slid across the road before flipping into a ditch and unleashing a fireball so hot it melted the road.
He wasn’t the only one who had a narrow escape. Macadamia Castle owner Tony Gilding was heading north a short distance ahead of Mr Smith and said the truck lost control just after passing him and came close to the car behind him as it ricocheted off the guard rail.
Another car that stopped immediately after the crash ended up draped with live powerlines, which were knocked down in the crash.
The car’s occupants escaped unharmed.
Mr Smith had also stopped and was looking at the truck where he could see the silhouette of the driver moving in the cabin. At that point, the tanker was already ablaze, with flames shooting into the air.
“I said we should have a go for him and see if we can get him out,” Mr Smith said.
“I could see a shadow in there and it was moving.
Mr Smith picked up a big rock so he could smash the window and pull the driver out. He was only three metres away when one of the truck’s trailers, carrying diesel and unleaded fuel, exploded with relatively little noise but with enough force to shake the ground.
“Another half a minute and he would have been alright,” a shaken Mr Smith said.
A quarter of a minute later, the explosion might have killed Mr Smith, too.
About 100 metres away, Mr Gilding had stopped his vehicle, called emergency services and got out of his car to go to the truck driver’s aid. He said he was still about 20 metres from the B-double when it exploded.
“There were flames and black smoke hundreds of feet into the air and there was a series of explosions,” Mr Gilding said.
Police Inspector Bill McKenna said it was not known how much fuel the truck had been carrying – but it was enough for police to set up a half-kilometre exclusion zone. Scores of firefighters doused the fire zone around the cabin and the first of the tanker trailers, while the second trailer was left to burn itself out.
Insp McKenna said firefighters had worked hard to prevent as much fuel as possible from draining into a roadside ditch alongside neighbouring wetland and Emigrant Creek. However, the burning pools of fuel and oil in the water suggested plenty had still made it through.
Insp McKenna said heat from the inferno had been so great it was still impossible to approach the wreck hours after the fire was extinguished.
Source: www. northernstar..com.au
