Koala causes six-car pileup on South Eastern Freeway – then takes over rescuer’s car

A koala crossing the South-Eastern Freeway caused a six-car pileup on Monday morning – before taking over its rescuer’s car.

A koala running across the South-Eastern Freeway on Monday morning led to a six-car pileup and lengthy traffic delays.

Crafers West local Nadia Tugwell, who stopped to pick the koala up, said the crash was caused by drivers trying to avoid the koala as it scampered over the freeway.

“I saw this koala coming running towards me and this lady trying to catch it with a blanket,” Ms Tugwell said.

“But it was young and sprinted away from her so I ran out of my car, grabbed my jacket from the back seat … and together we cornered it into the concrete barrier.

“We managed to grab it and put it in the boot of my car and arranged for a rescue group to meet me at the OTR near the Tollgate at the bottom of the freeway.”

Ms Tugwell said the koala appeared to be uninjured and calm – that was until they arrived at their destination.

A koala caused a multi-car pileup on the South-Eastern Freeway, leading to lengthy morning traffic delays. Picture: Nine News

The koala in Nadia Tugwell’s car after she rescued it from the freeway, after the crash. Picture: Nadia Tugwell

The koala after it was released. Picture: Nadia Tugwell

“When I got to the bottom of the freeway I checked on the koala and it just looked at me with this beautiful face,” she said.

“But then all of a sudden it jumped on to the back seat … and tried to climb into the front.

“I just got out and said: ‘here you can have the car’ and ended up filming it and taking pictures till the rescuers arrived.”

The video and images have now gone viral, much to Ms Tugwell’s surprise.

“I didn’t expect it all,” she said.

“I just stopped to help the koala and to prevent a second accident as I didn’t want it to keep on running between the cars,” she said.

Don Bigham, from Koala Rescue South Australia, said he released the koala soon after collecting it.

The koala clings to Ms Tugwell’s steering wheel. Picture: Nadia Tugwell

“It was very healthy and uninjured, so I released it at Leawood Gardens, back along the freeway but not on it,” Mr Bigham said.

“There’s frequent occurrences of koalas getting in strife either by getting hit or injured, killed or crossing successfully, occasionally and causing, in this case, a shocking accident.”

Mr Bigham warned people not to attempt to rescue a koala themselves if it is on the freeway.

“When on the freeway, you can only stop if you’re in the emergency stopping lane and you can’t get out of the vehicle,” he said.

“The best course of action is that if it is somewhere on a suburban freeway or expressway to call traffic management, or if you can’t get them, call the police.”

Police reduced traffic to two lanes as a result of the crash, near the Crafers exit, on the down track, just before 7am.

There were significant delays for city-bound commuters.

Nobody was seriously injured in the crash.