Bruce Highway blocked after crash south of Miriam Vale

The Bruce Highway remains closed after three trucks and a car towing a caravan collided in thick fog south of Miriam Vale. Two of the vehicles ignited in the crash, and a man remains in a critical condition with severe burns.

The Bruce Highway remains closed in central Queensland this morning after a crash at Gindoran, about 30km south of Miriam Vale.

The incident happened about 11.15pm on Wednesday when three trucks - a semi-trailer and two B-doubles - collided with a car towing a caravan.

It is believed two of the trucks ignited in the incident.

A 42-year-old man, believed to be one of the truck drivers, was taken to Gladstone Hospital in a critical condition with broken bones and large burns and will be flown to Brisbane later today.

Police investigate double-fatal crash near Gladstone

The Bruce Highway through Miriam Vale is blocked after a traffic incident. Seek an alternate route. pic.twitter.com/fbhxQMhPyE

— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) August 5, 2020

Another man, 54, who was the driver of one of the other trucks, was taken to Gladstone in a serious but stable condition with leg and arm injuries.

Up to 15 Queensland Fire and Rescue crews attended the scene, with one crew still onsite this morning after the crash ignited a slow-moving grass fire. That fire has since been extinguished.

“In terms of the trucks involved, the two B-doubles were destroyed by the fire,” a QFES spokeswoman said.

“One truck had severe damage to the rear trailer.”

Motorists were this morning being urged to seek an alternate route and avoid the area if possible, with diversions in place.

Those travelling southbound can go via Larson St and Fingerboard Road at Miriam Vale and a northbound diversion via John Clifford Way.

Queensland Ambulance Service Senior Operations Supervisor Alistair Vagg said thick fog in the area had likely impaired visibility on the highway prior to the crash.

“In the incident there was some significantly heavy fog and three semi-trailers have run into each other, causing two of them to catch fire and become significantly alight.

“We had two patients, both with quite serious injuries.

“One of the patients has sustained quite significant burns and some fractures and broken arms and legs and the other patient also had some quite significant trauma to his limbs.”

It has since been confirmed a car towing a caravan was also involved in the crash.

Mr Vagg said emergency crews faced a “quite challenging” condition as fog, smoke and fire affected access and visibility.

“We could only access the vehicles from the northern side so the most appropriate transport was back to Gladstone Hospital,” he said.

“Obviously due to the challenging conditions with the fog and the smoke we were unable to get helicopter retrieval teams in so all patients had to be transported by road back to Gladstone Hospital.”

Mr Vagg said ambulance crews remained on scene on Thursday morning as fire crews cleaned up and made the area safe.

He said the fire had caused a significant blockage to the road.

Mr Vagg urged drivers to slow down and drive to the conditions as heavy fog blanketed much of the region.

He said the area known for fog and crashes resulting from it were not uncommon.