Major Crash investigators have finally been able to inspect the site of a deadly collision between a truck carrying hazardous material and a car in remote Western Australia after keeping their distance for days due to the risk of a “massive explosion”.
Key points:
- Police say identifying the victims is a priority
- Authorities say past chemical explosions, including the disastrous Beirut blast, influenced their cautious approach
- The truck was carrying ammonium nitrate, which is commonly used for mine site blasting
Three people died on Tuesday afternoon when a triple road train carrying 25 tonnes of ammonium nitrate collided with a car on the Great Northern Highway, 20 kilometres south of the Auski Roadhouse in the Pilbara.
Fire crews extinguished the fire after arriving at the scene on Thursday, once the temperature of the blaze dropped to an acceptable level.
Department of Fire and Emergency Services Pilbara Superintendent Ray said the Major Crash team started their initial investigations on Thursday afternoon.
“They’ve continued that investigation this morning, we’re still waiting on them to finish and give us the okay to start moving the vehicles in the trailer and the load around as part of the recovery of it,” he said.
“It’s safe from an explosion risk point of view for our crews to be in there, so our priority is to clean it up, and allow Major Crash to continue the investigation with respect to the fatalities and both vehicles.”
Following the crash on Tuesday, a two-kilometre exclusion zone was established around the site, with authorities taking a cautious approach to the explosive chemicals involved.
“Some people might remember the large explosion at Beirut at the port — that was ammonium nitrate,” Superintendent Ray said.
More than 7,000 people were injured and 218 died when a stockpile of the chemical exploded in the Lebanese capital in 2020.
“If this thing does go bang, it’s going to go off with with a large explosion — a massive explosion,” Superintendent Ray said earlier in week.
“Which is why the precaution, why the distance of a two-kilometre exclusion zone.”
In October 2022, a road train carrying ammonium nitrate emulsion (ANE), a material used for mine site blasting, left a 17-metre-long crater in WA’s Goldfields region after catching fire and exploding.
“The last time one of these blew up was in Laverton [in WA],” Superintendent Ray said.
“Just to put it in perspective, one of the axles went about a kilometre away.
“[In relation to Tuesday’s crash,] we do know the product itself was on fire, not just the truck, which is why we’re so cautious.”
Earlier, Newman Police Officer-in-Charge Bernie McConnachie said investigators had worked to piece together exactly what happened despite the lack of access this week.
“The scene is just one part of the investigation,” she said.
“Everything else, in terms of our witness identification, CCTV, any other investigative opportunity is being looked at right now and hasn’t stopped being looked at since the incident happened.”
Senior Sergeant McConnachie said identifying the victims was a priority.
“Ultimately, when it comes to something so incredibly tragic as this, the best we can do is provide that outcome for them, so we are working very hard.”
The Great Northern Highway between Nanutarra Munjina Road and Karijini Drive was closed up until Thursday, and the public were being asked to avoid the area.
