Truck driver dies, woman cut from wreckage after B-double slams into building at Bordertown

POLICE will await the results of an autopsy to help determine the cause of a truck crash at Bordertown that killed the driver and seriously injured two women.

MYSTERY surrounds the circumstances of a fatal truck crash at Bordertown, in which a B-double semi-trailer ploughed into the bedroom of a sleeping couple.

The truck, towing a Scott's Transport trailer, veered off a service road alongside the Dukes Highway just after 3am and slammed into Bordertown Small Motors - a business and home near the corner of Ramsay Tce North.

The truck driver was killed instantly and his female passenger, who police believe was asleep in the cabin, was seriously injured and flown to Flinders Medical Centre.

The business owner and his wife were sleeping in the bedroom which the fully-laden truck crashed into.

The man miraculously escaped injury and his wife was trapped under falling debris and sustained serious abdominal injuries which are not believed to be life threatening.

Witnesses said the woman was fully conscious but was in shock and suffering severe back pain before she was also airlifted to Flinders Medical Centre.

Local residents today said they were puzzled how the truck had ran off the service road.

David Luke, who manages the Dukes Motor Inn next door, said he was shocked to learn the crash was so close to the business he has run for the past five years.

"All I heard was a distant thud, it did wake me up but I just thought it could have been a car accident at the BP service station up the road or a freight container crashing into the ground at the business over the road," Mr Luke said.

"It's just a freak, bizarre accident when you think about the amount of trucks that go past and they don't usually use this road anyway."

There were no obvious brake marks on the road or in the area surrounding the business and the truck had narrowly missed hitting Stobie pole alongside the entry gate.

"You couldn't see the front of the truck when I came out this morning, it was right inside the house, it was fortunate he didn't run into the telegraph pole, he would have taken out all the wires," Mr Luke said.

Local farmer Trevor Thomas said it was difficult to understand how the truck had veered off the 50km/hr road.

"I can't work out what's happened, I reckon if he was going 80 or 90 (km/hr) he would have taken the whole building out," Mr Thomas said.

"You wouldn't pull off onto this road for no reason if you were just heading through, he probably filled up or had a feed at the servo."

Major Crash Brevet Sergeant Wayne Liebich said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash.

"All we know at this stage is there was a B-double configured semi-trailer travelling along the service road of the Dukes Highway and for some reason the vehicle has left the road and gone through into a business premises and collided with the building," he said.

"It is still under investigation and can't say for sure exactly what happened … we've got to look at the condition of the vehicle, we will examine the journey and how long he had been travelling for.

"We've also got to look at the mechanics of the truck to make sure there is nothing wrong with it and look at the computer to see exactly what it's movements were."

Bvt Sgt Liebich said police would wait on the results of an autopsy to determine whether the driver had suffered a medical episode.

He said it was "extremely" lucky the couple inside the home were not killed.

"They were in the room that was struck by the truck, one of them has been trapped in the debris and she has been taken to hospital in a serious condition," he said.

Long-time local resident Mac Newman said the local couple were well-known among the Bordertown community.

"They reckon the bed had a big bend in it and they were sleeping in it, so how lucky are they?," he said.

Scott's Transport representatives at the scene declined to comment and said any statement would be issued by the company's chief executive.

The driver was the 96th person to die on South Australian roads this year - 11 more than at the same time last year.

Any witnesses to the accident or who saw the truck are asked to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.