M1 Pacific Motorway reopens southbound after serious 10-car crash on Hawkesbury River Bridge
A truck driver has just been cut free after being seriously injured in a 10-car crash that temporarily shut down the M1 Pacific Motorway southbound north of Sydney, with traffic delays stretching for kilometres and detours in place.
NSW
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A serious crash involving a car, ute and small truck brought the M1 Pacific Motorway to a standstill southbound on Thursday morning, with the truck driver freed after being trapped for more than an hour with severe lower body injuries.
The highway has since reopened, but heavy delays continue to impact traffic through the area.
Emergency services were called to the Hawkesbury River Bridge near Mooney Mooney shortly before 7.20am following reports of a multi-vehicle collision.
Fire and Rescue NSW Superintendent Adam Dewberry said the driver of the truck was “severely trapped” and crews scrambled to cut him free.
“We have a very serious crash, someone severely trapped in one of the vehicles, ambulance paramedics are on the scene stabilising,” he said earlier on 2GB.
“Firefighters are working with the paramedics to start to work out how to rescue this person out of the vehicle and that includes cutting and pushing of the vehicle to gain access to it so they can treat the injuries and then get them out and into hospital as soon as possible.”
As of 8.40am, the truck driver has been freed after being trapped for 90 minutes with serious lower body injuries, including suspected pelvis and femur fractures.
A Toll rescue helicopter landed on the motorway to deliver a medical team, who worked alongside Fire and Rescue NSW and RFS crews to cut the driver free.
Earlier, Acting Superintendent Thomas Barnes said the focus had been on rescuing the injured driver and ensuring the safety of emergency services, resulting in all southbound lanes and one northbound lane being closed.
“We’re hopeful that within the hour, we should get at least one and potentially two of those southbound lanes open to traffic,” Barnes said.
Early investigations suggested the truck may have failed to notice a build-up of traffic on the Hawkesbury River Bridge and collided with stationary vehicles, damaging up to 10 cars.
Drivers are still being diverted via the Old Pacific Highway, with major delays ongoing.
The M1 southbound was closed, with all traffic being diverted off the motorway at Mount White.
Delays stretch for kilometres, with congestion reportedly backing up past Calga and extremely heavy southbound traffic diverting via the Old Pacific Highway.
Northbound traffic was also heavily impacted, with queues stretching back more than three kilometres as emergency services work to free the trapped driver and clear the scene.
Drivers were being diverted via the Old Pacific Highway.
It comes after the M1 only just reopened on Friday following another major incident, when a truck spilled 700 kilograms of sharp metal debris across 25 kilometres of the motorway, puncturing tyres on more than 300 vehicles and forcing a full southbound closure for most of the day.
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Originally published as M1 Pacific Motorway reopens southbound after serious 10-car crash on Hawkesbury River Bridge
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