Peak Downs Highway closed for hours after truck carrying ammonium nitrate rolls

One person has been rushed to a North Queensland hospital after a truck carrying ammonium nitrate rolled on a highway, which has caused an hours-long two-kilometre road closure.

Queensland Ambulance Service. Picture: Kevin Farmer

A truck carrying ammonium nitrate has rolled on a major North Queensland highway, causing hours long road closures and major delays.

Emergency crews responded to a truck rollover on the Peak Downs Hwy near the Isaac River bridge early Sunday morning.

A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson said they received a call about 7.50am to the crash near Moranbah in North Queensland and that paramedics treated a man in his 40s.

While he did not appear to have any injuries, he was taken to the Moranbah Hospital in a stable condition.

A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman confirmed that the truck was carrying ammonium nitrate.

“The Peak Downs Highway is currently closed in both directions between the Isaac River rest area and Coppabella,” the spokeswoman said.

A Queensland Police Service spokesman added at around 3pm there was no estimate as to when the highway would reopen, but the clean-up would take time and diversions were in place.

Motorists are advised to avoid the area and seek alternative routes while emergency crews work to manage the situation.

This latest chemical truck crash follows a major closure of the Bruce Hwy in September last year after a B-double truck carrying 42.5 tonnes of ammonium nitrate caused an explosion near Bororen, in Central Queensland, following a fatal car crash.

Another truck carrying the same chemical also rolled in Gracemere, in Central Queensland, in the same month last year.

Originally published as Peak Downs Highway closed for hours after truck carrying ammonium nitrate rolls