Helicopter sent to man trapped in truck on PDR

A man remains trapped in the cab of a truck on a remote Cape York road after rolling his vehicle. The rescue chopper has just landed at the scene.

The Rescue 510 helicopter has arrived at Yarraden to treat a driver trapped in a truck on the PDR. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

A man remains trapped in a truck on a remote Cape York road after rolling his vehicle near Yarraden.

Emergency services received a call for help at 11.58am after a truck left the Peninsula Developmental Road just north of the Strathgordon Rd turn off, about 342kms northwest of Cairns.

The driver, aged in his 30s, had been trapped in the cab of the truck for more than three hours.

A short time ago the Rescue 510 helicopter arrived at the scene.

A Queensland Fire Department spokesman said a crew had been at the scene “for quite a while now” after taking an hour to arrive at the crash due to the remote location.

“Sounds as though there’s entrapment there as well, I think they’ve been working on freeing that person and assisting other services with getting them ready for transport,” he said.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the patient was a man aged in his 30s.

“He’s trapped in the vehicle, and he’s stable enough and he has help now,” she said.

The man is being treated for back, abdominal and leg injuries.

“They are significant injuries and he is being actively treated and I think he’s relatively stable,” she said.

The single vehicle crash has closed the PDR in both directions.

It’s expected the patient will be flown to Cairns Hospital.

The incident follows a fatal collision in August involving a New South Wales man who as killed in a road crash on the Peninsula Development Road north of the Archer River Roadhouse.

Follow @petercarruther1

Originally published as Helicopter sent to man trapped in truck on PDR