Tim Hickey revealed as third victim of Maryborough triple fatal
The widow and stepson of two truck drivers killed in a Bruce Highway fireball have met where the men died, vowing to support each other through the aftermath of the shocking tragedy as authorities try to determine the final death toll.
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The widow and stepson of two truck drivers killed in a Bruce Highway fireball have met where the men died, vowing to support each other through the aftermath of the shocking tragedy as authorities try to determine the final death toll.
Truck driver Daniel Stuart, Maryborough’s Sidney Marstella and now Tim Hickey have been identified as the three men who died in the crash.
The fireball crash, in which a car that failed to give way caused two trucks to collide on the Bruce Hwy at the Walker St intersection, meant police were not able to determine if potentially more lives had been lost in the collision.
One of the trucks was carrying lithium batteries that caused a ferocious fire.
Mr Hickey was driving a truck loaded with watermelons when the collision happened about 9.50pm last Friday, March 22, while Mr Stuart’s was loaded with the batteries.
Jakkaphong (Jak) Mullar took to social media to pay tribute to his stepdad Mr Hickey. “I love you dad still can't believe that you're gone.’’
“You sacrifice so much for me and mum, you taught me so much about life and you're always there with me helping with my good and bad days.
“You make the person I am today and I'm proud to call you my dad.
“May the heavenly father guide you through and accept you into his kingdom. I love you always dad, Timothy John Hickey.”
Mr Hickey, who was 62, had been driving trucks since the late 1990s.
The Mullar family joined the family of Daniel Stuart in calling for intersection where the tragedy happened to be fixed.
Mr Hickey’s family have set up an appeal to cover funeral costs, saying three of them had just moved to Bundaberg from Victoria with their dad as the main source of income.
“We just need a few donations to get us through the next couple of months with funeral costs,’’ the appeal said.
“Dad went to work to earn a living like everyone else, but he didn't return. It would mean so much for me and mum for the donation to help us send dad to his final resting place.” Already about $8000 has been raised towards the $10,000 target.
Mr Stuart’s family has itself donated more than $1000 to the Hickey and Mullar family.
Aroha Keen posted: “Jak, your Mum and family are all in our hearts. Together we will get through this tragedy and there won’t be a moment that our loss won’t be felt, your Dad Tim and my Step-Dad Daniel. Sending so much love, strength and prayers. Kia kaha”.
FAMILIES MEET ON ROADSIDE OF TRAGEDY
Betty Stuart, Daniel’s wife, met with Jak on the side of the Bruce Highway on Tuesday, united in their grief.
Mrs Stuart described visiting the site as overwhelming but said it gave her some peace. "I can talk to him, I know this is where he is," she said. "On our Māori side, spirits are here for seven days … I know he's still here,’’ she told the ABC.
“His dad and my husband died together and that’s putting us together. We will be together forever,’’ Mrs Stuart said.
AUTHORITIES STILL TRYING TO IDENTIFY HOW MANY DIED
Wide Bay Acting Superintendent Grant Marcus said the crash was horrendous for the community.
“For us it’s ongoing and for the community it will be ongoing as well,” Act Supt Marcus said.
He said police were still investigating how many people had died.
“That’s still being investigated as we speak, still trying to determine from the evidence that’s there to confirm exactly how many people have passed away,” Act Supt Marcus said.
“At this stage I believe there’s three but there’s still further investigations to be done in that area.”
WARNING TO EASTER LONG WEEKEND DRIVERS
Act Supt Marcus said the message to drivers this Easter was to be really careful on the roads.
“I can’t emphasise that any more,” he said.
“The roads are wet out there, the weather conditions are changing on a constant basis.
“We want people to drive in a safe way, to obey the speed limit, to be careful on the roads, to be very patient.
“Easter often is a short period of time where people try to drive long distances and become quite fatigued, they can become quite irritable.
“We ask people to take a break every two hours, to be patient like I’ve indicated and show some courtesy to other road users.
“It’s really important, we all use the roads and we all need to use them safely.
“We want to ensure that we get there safely so we can enjoy Easter.”
QUESTIONS OVER SAFETY OF INTERSECTION
In the wake of the fatal crash, questions had been raised regarding the safety of the Walker St intersection.
Act Supt Marcus said after every horrendous crash, an investigation into the location was undertaken to determine whether further improvements could be made.
Decisions would be made after engineers from the Department of Transport and Main Roads inspected the intersection, he said.
Act Supt Marcus said the service was proud of how its officers had handled the scene on Friday night.
“This was a very horrendous scene to come across,” he said.
“Even for some of our very experienced officers it is horrendous.
“I’ve been to some similar sorts of crashes and they hit you hard.
“Our officers will never forget that, they will always remember that incident, to be the ones who go and give the death messages to the family, that’s a horrendous thing as well.
“To be there and to investigate it and try to investigate what the causes are and continually have to do up the reports and send them through, they continually remind us of the incident that we’ve been to.
“For our police, I’m very proud of how they handled the situation, they were extremely professional, they made sure they did what was required of them, to investigate it in a proper way.”
EMERGENCY CREWS CONFRONTED BY HORRENDOUS SCENE
Act Supt Marcus said it was more confronting than a typical crash scene.
“When you’ve got two trucks that have collided like that and have actually gone up in flames, where you’ve got three other vehicles involved, where you’ve got persons deceased, whether it be one, two or three, it’s a horrendous scene to actually have to be confronted with and then to go about doing your business as a police officer in such a very stressful situation.
“It can be quite daunting but we have very professional police here, we work very well with other emergency services, we weren’t the only emergency service to respond.
“There were the likes of the ambulance and also the fire service who attended, so they’ve had to deal with that situation as well.”
Act Supt Marcus said toxicology reports expected in the wake of the crash were expected to take a while, along with formal identifications.
He said officers wanted people to enjoy Easter and to have fun, but wanted them to get there and do it safely.
“The roads can be a very dangerous place if people aren't doing the right thing.”
Act Supt Marcus urged people to remember the Fatal 5 and said there would be additional police on the roads over the holiday period.
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