It’s a miracle

By Kath Gannaway
THREE men involved in a David and Goliath road crash at Coldstream last week were lucky to escape with their lives.
A tanker driver heading west on Maroondah Highway lost control of the vehicle and collided with a car travelling east at around 6.20am on Wednesday, 17 March.
Police and emergency service volunteers at the scene told the Mail it was a miracle no-one was killed. The scene which greeted them was a twisted mass of metal, the sedan and its two occupants crushed beneath the massive bulk of the tanker.
The tanker driver, a 35-year-old Healesville man who had left his Healesville depot just minutes before, was airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The 24-year-old driver of the sedan managed to free himself from the wreckage but his 23-year-old passenger was trapped for almost an hour while SES volunteers worked to cut him free.
Both men, plasterers from the Dandenong area travelling to work on the Marysville Primary School construction site, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. They were airlifted to the Alfred Hospital.
Senior Constable Katrina Bartrop from Lilydale Police told the Mail how the car driver managed to get out was a mystery.
“When you get a job involving a tanker and a vehicle, you just expect a fatality. We were quite amazed with the state of everything, that anyone survived,” she said.
“Everyone involved in the rescue was great,” she added.
“There was quite a bit of technical difficulty. They had to lift the tanker before they could get the passenger out and they did a great job.”
Site manager on the Marysville school site, Mark Henwood, told the Mail news of the crash had had a significant impact on his workers.
“The site was quite heavy. We’ve got a good bunch of people here; we’re a bit of a multi-cultural lot and they fitted in well. They are hard workers,” he said.
He said the men, of Asian descent, had been staying at Marysville Caravan Park and Wednesday was their first day back after a week’s break.
He said the men’s company had been keeping the site updated on their progress.
“There was a lot of talk around the site, and a lot of relief when we got a call later in the week to let us know they were recovering,” Mr Henwood said.
Neville Barnes, manager of BTB Australia which owns the tanker said on Thursday he had spoken only briefly to his driver.
“The worrying thing for us is that we don’t know what happened. At this stage we are waiting on police contact,” he said.
Mr Barnes confirmed the truck, which usually carries liquid mud, was empty.
Sen Const Bartrop said police were investigating the circumstances which led to the crash and were appealing for witnesses.
“We still have to look at the contributing factors. There was a fair amount of traffic on the road and if anyone saw what actually happened, we would certainly like to hear from them,” she said.
Anyone with information can contact Lilydale Police on 9739 2300.