Charleville truck explosion: Survivor tells of fateful night

SOMEHOW he survived one of the biggest explosions in Australian transportation history. Now this truckie has finally opened up about that fateful night.

WHEN Tim Bunyan regained consciousness, he was crawling on his hands and knees near the blast site.

He tried to get up but fell over again. His shirt was ripped apart. His body was caked in a black residue. It was a miracle he was alive.

Tim would later discover he had just survived what experts described as one of the most powerful explosions in Australia’s transporting history.

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A truck carrying more than 50 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had just crashed outside Charleville. It was September 5, 2014, on a very dark night on a fairly desolate stretch of road.

Now, for the first time, Tim has agreed to tell his story.

He remembers “a flash shootin’ up in the air”, he says, as he rounded a bend on the Mitchell Highway on his way north from Cunnamulla that night.

“I knew straight away there was an accident down at the bridge,” Tim says, referring to the Angellala Creek bridge, about 30km south of Charleville.

Pulling up, he remembers it looking like the Kenworth had run off the road, plunging into the small creek below. Police confirm there were no skid marks, no signs of braking.

Already ablaze, the flames engulfing the cabin and fuel tanks, Tim frantically tried to phone for help.

Truckie Tim Bunyan has finally opened up about his ordeal.

In the darkness, he initially failed to notice that the driver, Tony Eden, was lying badly burnt on the side of the road.

“He told me how his wife was due to have a baby,” Tim says. “But all his arms and legs were burnt. You could just smell the burning flesh. He must have crawled through the fire to get himself out.”

Tim says he wanted to keep the truckie talking, keep him conscious. He asked him what happened. But Tony couldn’t remember.

“His head was hanging off. I kept poking his head back on but it wouldn’t stay there,” Tim says, recalling the large amounts of skin hanging from Tony’s neck, struggling to remain in place.

Just up the highway, another truck was making its way south from Charleville. Tim says he was surprised to see his good mate Jimmy Bateman behind the wheel.

Despite understanding the explosive potential of the deadly chemicals aboard the burning truck, Tim says he felt comfortable enough to remain at the scene.

He knew ammonium nitrate by itself was relatively stable. He knew it needed to mix with fuel before it became explosive. And he knew it needed a powerful ignition source to set it off.

The highway bridge was reduced to a crater.

But then the explosions started. “When all the tyres started blowin’ up, I started to panic a bit because it was takin’ so long for help to get there,” Tim says.

Then the first fire crew arrived.

The firefighters just managed to get an oxygen mask on Tony when a major blast went off.

Debris started raining down around them. Then a moment later there was an explosion that was felt kilometres away.

Tim can’t remember that one. There’s only darkness.

When he came to, Tim was crawling around on his hands and knees near the side of a 6m deep and 12m crater where the bridge had been moments earlier.

Tony survived with half a dozen broken bones, including his neck, but lost one-third of his skin

Mystery still surrounds the cause of the crash.

A Department of Natural Resources and Mines’ Explosives Inspectorate spokesman said a report was scheduled to be released in March.

Tim was off work for nine months. Then there were the anxiety attacks. But then he stops for a moment.

“Nope,” he says. “Nothing worries me about it no more.”

A fire truck that attended the accident was reduced to twisted wreckage. Pic: Queensland Police Service

Charred and twisted metal lies near the bridge in the wake of the massive explosion.