The whānau of a Kiwi truck driver killed in Queensland have pleaded for him to be returned to them so they can grieve.
Daniel Stuart, originally from Pātea, died alongside two others in a fiery five-vehicle crash along a highway on Queensland’s Fraser Coast, AAP reported.
Two semi-trailers, a dual cab ute, a hatchback and a caravan trailer were all involved in the collision due to an apparent failure to give away at Maryborough West on Friday evening.
Emergency crews were called to the Bruce Highway and Walker Street intersection around 10pm, with two vehicles on fire.
Stuart, 50, was driving a semi-trailer carrying lithium batteries when his vehicle was struck by another carrying watermelons after a car entered the highway.
Both trucks were consumed by fire and the horror blaze left Australian police needing specialists to formally identify the two drivers.
Stuart’s family have been told the process could take two weeks, 7News reported, and have urged authorities to speed the process so they could follow tikanga.
Betty Stuart said it was important for her family to have him back.
“He needs to be here. He needs to be by us so we can say goodbye to him and his grandchildren can sit around his coffin,” she said.
“All I’ve got of him is his dirty shirt and I can smell his aftershave and his scent.’’
Betty Stuart said her husband had kissed her goodbye that day before he left for work.
“Six hours later I got told he had been killed,” Stuart told 7News.
A GoFundMe has been created to support the family, with Lily McGuire revealing that Betty Stuart also faces losing her home as she battles cancer.
“My Koro was tragically taken from us Friday night in the horrific truck accident at Maryborough,” McGuire wrote.
“My Nani who is currently battling Breast Cancer and caring for my great-grandparents has now been left without her main income provider and also has the stress of needing to find a new rural property to rent within the next 6 weeks.”
She wrote that the “loss has impacted our whanau drastically”, saying her koro was “an amazing man, selfless , generous and so caring”.
“He will forever leave a hole in our hearts.”
Acting Superintendent Paul Algie said initial investigations suggested a car, driven by a 53-year-old Maryborough man, went out into oncoming traffic about 9.50pm from the Walker St intersection at Maryborough West.
The hatchback was hit by a truck which collided with another truck, he told reporters on Saturday.
A car turning right at the intersection was then hit by the semi-trailer. A car carrying a caravan behind the truck in the northbound lane was also hit by the trailer, AAP reported.
Flammable material and the lithium batteries led to explosions heard for kilometres from the crash site.
The 53-year-old driver of the hatchback also died at the scene. A 22-year-old woman and 27-year-old man travelling in the ute from the Northern Territory were also injured. A 50-year-old man from Townsville in the caravan escaped with minor injuries.
”At this point, all we are looking at is a failure to give way,” Supt Algie said on Saturday.”The survivors are lucky to be alive.”
– Additional reporting, AAP
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