Angellala Creek significant incident re-enactment - video transcript
Watch the Angellala Creek significant incident re-enactment video and hear what happened at each stage of the event.
On Friday 5 September 5 2014, a road train carrying 52 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was involved in a single-vehicle accident on the Mitchell Highway at Angellala Creek, approximately 30km south of Charleville in Queensland, Australia.
The truck was travelling in a southerly direction on a clear night in a remote area when it left the road.
It came to rest in a creek bed adjacent to a road bridge and in close proximity to a disused rail bridge.
During the crash, bags of ammonium nitrate and fuel tanks on the truck ruptured, spilling diesel and scattering ammonium nitrate across the crash site.
There was a fire on the vehicle and the driver was seriously injured, but he managed to escape the burning vehicle.
A local man was first on the scene followed by a truck driver shortly after from the south.
The local man left the site and called emergency services from a nearby farm as there was no mobile phone reception at the accident site.
A second truck driver arrived from the north after the local man had left the site. The two truck drivers remained with the injured driver.
The fire on the vehicle burnt for more than 1 hour before the first emergency response crew arrived. Shortly after, a second fire crew arrived at the site followed by a police car.
A small explosion occurred while the responding fire crews were attending to the injured driver.
They were in the process of moving away from the accident site when a second large explosion occurred.
There were no fatalities. The driver and the 7 other people at the scene sustained injuries, most of them very serious.
The road train carrying ammonium nitrate and 2 fire trucks were destroyed. A truck parked to the south and a police car parked to the north sustained significant damage.
The road bridge and sections of the highway were destroyed and the rail bridge sustained major structural damage.
Debris from the explosion was discovered up to 1km from the blast site in all directions. A house approximately 6km north of the accident site sustained damage to its internal walls.
Watch the Angellala Creek significant incident re-enactment video.