2024 Bruce Highway explosion

On 30 August 2024, near Bororen, Queensland, a utility vehicle crashed head-on with a truck transporting 41.5 tonnes of ammonium nitrate which exploded.
Incident
At approximately 5:10 am AEST, a utility vehicle collided head-on with a truck transporting 41.5 tonnes of ammonium nitrate near Bororen, Queensland approximately 400 kilometres north of Brisbane, killing the driver of the utility vehicle and seriously injuring the truck driver. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
The truck was transporting 41.5 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertiliser. Following the crash the truck caught fire and the driver was pulled from the truck by bystanders. Ammonium nitrate leaked onto the Bruce Highway, a major highway in Queensland. First responders ordered an evacuation of a 2.5 kilometre radius of the crash,<ref name":0" /> and decided to not extinguish the fire because of the inherent risk.<ref name":1" />
The ammonium nitrate exploded at 9:40 am AEST causing a shockwave that was felt as far as Gladstone, 55 kilometres away from the site.<ref name":1" /> A mushroom cloud rose into the sky and the explosion threw debris 50 metres.<ref name":2" />
There were no casualties from the explosion. There was minor damage to powerlines in the area and some spot fires.<ref name":1" /> The truck driver was airlifted to hospital.<ref name":2" />

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