Bruce Highway crash at Bauple: One dead, as another fights for life

One man is dead and another is fighting for life after another horror crash on Queensland‘s Bruce Highway.

Emergency services rushed to highway near the intersection of Stratford and Mountain Roads, about 10km south of Tiaro, shortly after midday on Thursday. 

It is understood a ute was following a car, which was towing a caravan, northbound when the two vehicles crashed with a truck travelling in the southbound lane. 

The truck smashed through the highway’s side rails after colliding with the two vehicles. 

Paramedics treated the 59-year-old male driver of the ute for life-threatening injuries, but he died at the scene. 

A rescue helicopter was called out to the crash site but later stood down after the man was declared dead. 

Police at the scene are investigating whether a wheel which had come loose from the caravan had caused the crash. 

‘Initially what we have been able to establish that a wheel has fallen from the caravan and as a result led to the two vehicles colliding,’ Queensland Police told the Courier Mail. 

Firefighters from the Queensland Fire Department had to cut one of the people free from the wreckage, while a rescue helicopter was called out but was stood down soon after. 

Police have established a crime scene and have shut a section of Bruce Highway. 

The Highway is expected to remain closed for a significant length of time as officers from the Forensic Crash Unit examine the crash site. 

Motorists are being urged to avoid the area, with drivers being turned around or diverted through Bauple. 

The crash comes just days after three woman died in a bus crash on the same highway. 

The Greyhound bus collided with a four-wheel-drive towing a caravan along the Bruce Highway near the Wilson Creek Rest Area, between Gumlu and Wangaratta, at 12.50pm on Sunday.

Some 33 people were on the inter-city Greyhound bus travelling between Bowen and Townsville. Two people were in the car that was towing the caravan. 

Police confirmed a 56-year-old Townsville woman died in the crash, who was believed to be travelling with her daughter, who was not injured, from Brisbane to Townsville.

Two women, aged in their 20s and 30s, were also killed in the collision, while two mean, aged 23 and 24, were rushed to Townsville hospital in a critical condition. 

Two men, aged 24 and 23, are in critical condition at a Townsville hospital.