A 31-year-old British backpacker is believed to have died after his car reportedly exploded after colliding with a truck on a notoriously dangerous stretch of Australian road.
The car crashed into a truck carrying timber on the Bruce Highway, near Townsville, North Queensland at 5pm on Tuesday.
The timber then reportedly caught fire following the severe impact, making it near impossible for emergency services to access the vehicles, 9News said.
The driver, believed to be a 31-year-old Brit, was pronounced dead at the scene.
However, police are yet to formally identify the deceased, as the remains have been badly compromised by the fire.
"As soon as the car hit the front of the truck it exploded into a ball of flames. By then it was all over,” a witness to the crash said.
It’s understood by police that the deceased had borrowed the car from another backpacker and was travelling up the coast.
The highway was closed for hours in both directions as emergency services attempted to clear debris.
In 2014, the Bruce Highway was named among the 22 worst roads in the world.
In August, seven deaths occurred on the road in seven days.
The truck driver escaped the crash with minor injuries.
Speaking of the driver, the witness said: : "He was good to start with, but then half an hour later you could see what had happened was starting to take its toll on him,’ the witness said of the truck driver."
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