Peak Downs Highway crash: Man trapped after truck, car collide

A man was trapped for more than an hour inside a vehicle after it and a truck collided on the Peak Downs Highway in Central Queensland.

A man trapped inside a ute for more than an hour is being flown to hospital after a serious truck and car collision on the Peak Downs Highway.

The man, aged in his 40s, suffered a crushed ankle and was trapped inside a ute after the collision near the South Walker Creek Mine turn-off at Strathfield about 11.30am.

Emergency services including nearby mine paramedics responded to the scene and worked to gain entry to the man pinned inside the heavily damaged ute.

A Queensland Ambulance spokesman said the man was initially “heavily entrapped” in one of the vehicles.

He was freed after about an hour and stabilised, before being loaded onto the RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter.

The chopper with the man on board left the scene about 1.10pm, en route to Mackay Base Hospital.

It is the third serious crash in the Mackay district in four days.

The RACQ CQ Rescue helicopter on scene. Picture: RACQ CQ Rescue

The Peak Downs Highway was closed to allow the helicopter to land.

The rescue helicopter landed about 12.20pm.

RACQ CQ Rescue has undertaken nine missions since Thursday, including being tasked to two fatal road smashes, the first at Carmila on Thursday night and another at Bloomsbury on Saturday night.

Today’s flight to the crash scene on the Peak Downs Highway is the 223rd task for 2022.

It follows tributes for Calen mother-of-three Casey Munchow, 31, who died when her vehicle was swept into floodwaters at Mount Ossa on May 11.