5 September, 2014: Ammonium nitrate truck explosion | Queensland Country Life - video Dailymotion

The video reconstructs what happened ten years ago approximately 30km south of Charleville, Queensland.

Transcript

00:00On Friday, September 5th, 2014, a road train carrying 52 tonnes of ammonium nitrate was

00:08involved in a single vehicle accident on the Mitchell Highway at Angelala Creek, approximately

00:1330 kilometres south of Charleville in Queensland, Australia.

00:17The truck was travelling in a southerly direction on a clear night in a remote area when it

00:22left the road.

00:23It came to rest in a creek bed adjacent to a road bridge and in close proximity to a

00:28disused rail bridge.

00:30During the crash, bags of ammonium nitrate and fuel tanks on the truck ruptured, spilling

00:36diesel and scattering ammonium nitrate prill across the crash site.

00:40There was a fire on the vehicle and the driver was seriously injured, but he managed to escape

00:45the burning vehicle.

00:47A local man was first on the scene, followed by a truck driver shortly after from the south.

00:52The local man left the site and called emergency services from a nearby farm, as there was

00:57no mobile phone reception at the accident site.

01:01A second truck driver arrived from the north after the local man had left the site.

01:06The two truck drivers remained with the injured driver.

01:09The fire on the vehicle burned for more than one hour before the first emergency response

01:13crew arrived.

01:15Shortly after, a second fire crew arrived at the site, followed by a police car.

01:19A small explosion occurred while the responding fire crews were attending to the injured driver.

01:25They were in the process of moving away from the accident site when a second, large explosion

01:30occurred.

01:31There were no fatalities.

01:33The driver and these seven other people at the scene sustained injuries, most of them

01:37very serious.

01:39The road train carrying ammonium nitrate and two fire trucks were destroyed.

01:44A truck parked to the south and a police car parked to the north sustained significant

01:49damage.

01:50The road bridge and sections of the highway were destroyed, and the rail bridge sustained

01:55major structural damage.

01:57Debris from the explosion was discovered up to one kilometre from the blast site in all

02:02directions.

02:03A house, approximately six kilometres north of the accident site, sustained damage to

02:09its internal walls.