Police reveal what caused highway carnage at Holloways Beach
UPDATE: Police explain what caused two dramatic crashes that happened within minutes of each other on a major road earlier today. WATCH THE VIDEO
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UPDATE: Police have revealed what happened on the Captain Cook Highway to cause a trail of carnage between the Machans and Holloways Beach roundabouts.
The driver of a four-wheel-drive ute has allegedly been involved in two smashes on a Cairns highway.
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At 12.33pm emergency crews were called to the highway after three separate vehicles crashed and flipped on to their roofs.
A Queensland Police spokeswoman said a late model Mitsubishi Triton dual-cab ute rear-ended a yellow Ford Falcon trayback ute and smashed it off the roundabout.
The Triton then headed north and ploughed into a Holden Commodore ute at the Holloways Beach roundabout.
“It hit the first car at the other roundabout and has gone speeding up and hit another one,” she said.
All cars were occupied by a driver only, with each receiving minor injuries.
The crashes caused minor delays for northbound traffic when emergency vehicles partially blocked the road.
No arrests have yet been made.
UPDATE: Police have confirmed the Captain Cook Highway at the Machans and Holloways Beach roundabouts is now clear following a series of crashes.
EARLIER: Paramedics have rushed to two highway crashes within less than a kilometre of each other with reports of a fire spreading onto nearby grass.
A Queensland Ambulance spokeswoman said authorities were called to the Captain Cook Highway at Holloways Beach with reports of a multi-vehicle crash at 12.33pm.
Two northbound cars were both upside down in the middle of the roundabout.
Another triple-0 call was received just six minutes later for a crash at the Machans Beach roundabout involving a yellow Ford utility.
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Firefighters, paramedics and police were at the scene to assess injuries and any danger of fire spread.
Early reports suggested a fire had broken out on surrounding grass.
Traffic had been reduced to one lane at 1pm but was still moving.
QFES Smithfield Station Officer Scott McGraw said firefighters’s first task upon arrival to the crash was to determine how many people and vehicles were involved and if anyone was trapped.
“A doctor was on scene, treating a driver,” he said.
“We ascertained that another driver was also on scene that was relatively uninjured, and that there were no other passengers involved.
Station Officer McGraw was unaware if the Holloways Beach crash was related to the nearby Machans Beach incident.
“A truck did respond to that one,” he said.
It is now understood the two crashes were related and that none of the vehicles involved were stolen.
Originally published as Police reveal what caused highway carnage at Holloways Beach
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