Garlic bread, corn and eggs will be getting fished out of the Ovens Rivers in Wangaratta for days, after a B-double grocery truck was dragged back to dry land in pieces.
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The driver, a man in his 40s, had somehow survived an extraordinary crash on Wednesday evening where his vehicle had taken out a guard rail to the right of the Hume Freeway, mounted the side of the bridge, then tipped and nosedived straight into the water.
Wangaratta Highway Patrol Senior Constable Patrick Murray said the momentum of two fully-loaded trailers had left the truck cabin crushed at the bottom of the river, but the driver managed to get himself out.
Police were investigating why the driver lost control, looking into the possibly of fatigue.
“He had a seat belt on, the seatbelt saved his life … He was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, which is a miracle in itself. None of us can understand how he’s still alive.” Senior Constable Patrick Murray said. “This is the most chaotic scene I’ve seen in 10 years, involving multiple agencies and multiple heavy haulage.”
Beau Lindau had taken his children down to the river when he was confronted with what he said was “disgusting” sight of groceries and fuel floating down the river. “I was having a bit of a swim and the next minute I saw all this debris floating down there,” he said.
“We started to see the diesel start to settle on top of the surface so soon as we saw that I dragged the kids out of the water and said obviously something pretty massive has happened.”
Mr Lindau realised the items must have been from a truck crash and called police and the EPA, who were already on their way.
“You think what’s going to be the long-term effects of that, all the sunken rubbish and the diesel spill?”
The EPA will spend the next few days trying to remove all the groceries, which had been bound for Woolworths, from the banks and bottom of the river.
They have warned residents not to try to consume any food they may find.
“Diesel from the truck and food contents are in the river and moving downstream,” a spokesman said.
“EPA is working with other agencies to ensure minimise environmental impacts and to determine pollution levels.”
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