Motorcyclist killed hours after three teens killed in crash nearby
A motorbike rider has been killed just hours a catastrophic crash which claimed the lives of three teenage friends on a nearby road in Mackay. UPDATES.
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Four people including three teenage friends are dead after two catastrophic crashes in just a few hours at Mackay.
Shocking details about the moment a motorcyclist hit the back of a trailer, sending him across two lanes near the Bruce Hwy, emerged on Saturday morning.
The Mackay Bucasia Rd, where a woman could be seen screaming in distress as a helmet sat in the middle of the road and a witness described the horror that had unfolded, remained closed as of noon.
It comes as police investigate whether fog played a part in a crash which claimed lives of three teenagers in the same region overnight.
The trio of friends, all 19, were travelling in a green Mazda sedan when it crashed head-on with a Great Wall ute about 10.30pm Friday.
It’s understood heavy fog had descended on the region at the time and the section of road where the crash happened was out of town, between the now shrapnel-strewn cane paddocks where debris, car parts and even a seat head rest could be seen on Saturday morning.
Police said the Mazda had been travelling south bound behind a semi-trailer and both vehicles had gone through the roundabout and were on the Mackay Ring Road when the smaller vehicle legally tried to overtake the truck in the 100km zone.
It appeared the occupants of the sedan did not see the dual cab ute which was travelling northbound, and both vehicles collided head on.
The ute then also clipped the truck’s trailer causing some damage before ending up on its roof on the roadway.
A fourth vehicle, an Isuzu towing a caravan and also travelling northbound, did not see the upside-down ute on the road and veered off the road, ending up down an embankment.
Tragically the three occupants of the Mazda, two 19-year-old men, one of who was the driver and the other the front passenger, and a 19-year-old woman who was a back passenger, died as a result of the crash while the driver of the Great Wall, a 29-year-old Blacks Beach man, was taken to Mackay Base Hospital with minor leg injuries.
Three others including the drivers of the car towing the caravan and the 68-year-old Kelso truck driver declined transport to hospital.
As news of the tragedy spread on social media, several commented about the tough conditions.
Stephanie Wano wrote “fog was heavy in some parts on the ring road last night. We could barely see the lights on the police cars and the officers waving cars down to turn around. Condolences to those that lost their lives”.
Security footage on a camera at a nearby cane farm also showed fog in the area at the time of the crash.
Resident Ricky Barnes said he woke to people walking along the road beside the site of the crash.
“The fog has been really thick previous nights, but it didn’t appear to be as bad last night,” he said.
The triple fatal brings the Mackay district road toll to 10 deaths from eight crashes.
It also comes less than 24-hours after a crash in the Gympie region which claimed the life of a 21-year-old woman and left a 17-year-old seriously injured and after a “high impact” crash sent a man to hospital in nearby Chelona on Friday afternoon.
A Queensland Ambulance spokeswoman said they were treating a man with pelvic and chest injuries but he was in a stable condition.
More to come.
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Originally published as Motorcyclist killed hours after three teens killed in crash nearby
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