"Police say the large truck was travelling southbound in the right-hand lane on CityLink at around 6:30am (AEST) when a car tried to merge in front of it.
It is while trying to take evasive action and then bounced across the freeway coming to rest on top of one of the side barriers.
The trailers dangled precariously over the side of the bridge and the driver fell from the upside down cabin.
He landed on top of some concrete debris 15 metres below and is in a critical condition at the Royal Melbourne Hospital."
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/article/17214653/traffic-delays-after-dramatic-melbourne-truck-smash/
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Truck driver's family 'devastated'
The family of a man who was thrown 20 metres from a bridge in a Melbourne freeway crash thanks community.
A TRUCK driver fighting for his life after a freak accident brought the CBD to a standstill had fled the war in Iraq to make a better life for himself.
The horror morning crash, near the Bolte Bridge section of CityLink, caused traffic chaos throughout the day and into the evening peak, prompting road experts to call for better management of trucks on the tollway.
The crash, which hurled Roxburgh Park man Yousef Jaffary from the cabin of his tip-truck 20m to the road below, could cost the economy up to $10 million, experts warned.
Motorists faced a nightmare commute into work. Traffic stretched back up to 5km on the freeway and
clogged arterial roads.
Truck driver in a critical condition
Yousef Jaffary was thrown from the cabin of his tip-truck 20m to the road below as officers say a lane change was the cause of an accident ...
Police believe the crash was caused when a car merged into the truck's lane, clipping it, as both vehicles travelled towards the West Gate Freeway in North Melbourne.
Mr Jaffary's truck then swerved into the right-hand barrier before veering across all four lanes and flipping on to the barrier wall.
It is understood the 39-year-old was thrown clear of the truck before it jack-knifed and
overturned.
Truck driver Yousef Jaffary (inset) is in a critical condition after a freak smash on CityLink. Main picture: Nicole Garmston
The truck driver's nephew, Hasain Alabbudi, said it was a miracle Mr Jaffary wasn't killed.
"He's a great
survivor. Like we say, he's a soldier," he said.
"I don't know how he survived that fall."
Mr Jaffary, who migrated from war-torn Iraq in 1994, has operated his business, clearing construction sites, for about 10 years.
Mr Alabbudi said his uncle faced a difficult 24 hours as doctors at the Royal Melbourne Hospital worked to save his life.
"He's doing good. But they think there could be changes in that," he said.
Paramedics attend to the driver after he was flung from his truck. Picture: Nicole Garmston
Mr Jaffary suffered horrendous injuries in the crash and subsequent fall, smashing his pelvis, breaking his leg and ribs, and slicing his kidney.
"He's got internal bleeding and they were trying to stop that," Mr Alabbudi said.
"Apparently his head is all right, though."
A crane lifts the truck back onto the freeway. Picture: Nicole Garmston
Mr Alabbudi said his uncle worked from dawn to dusk.
"He was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. He got cut off and all of this has happened," he said.
Superintendent Neville Taylor said that police were investigating whether Mr Jaffary was wearing a seat belt.
Emergency crews work to secure the truck. Picture: Norm Oorloff
And they would trawl through CCTV footage from CityLink and VicRoads cameras to help reconstruct the accident.
"We will learn what we can, to see what can be brought back to prevent these type of incidents happening," Supt Taylor said.
A 25-year-old Spotswood man driving the car suffered minor injuries and was assisting police with their investigation.
Melbourne's traffic was brought to a standstill after the freak smash. Picture: Norm Oorloff
Mr Alabbudi said his uncle's strength would help him survive.
"He's a very, very strong bloke ... he used to be a bodybuilder back in the day," he said.
"He's had a very tough life. His brother also got killed over there (in Iraq) when he was just a kid.
A crane lifts the truck back onto the freeway. Picture: Nicole Garmston
"But he's done it tough, and he came here and started working hard.
"Unfortunately, this has happened."
Any witnesses should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
- with James Dowling
TRAFFIC DELAYS AFTER
DRAMATIC MELBOURNE TRUCK SMASH
ABCUpdated May 17, 2013, 6:31 pm
Inbound lanes on Melbourne's Citylink have been reopened after a crash this morning which left a large truck dangling from an overpass.
Crews are still working to clean up debris, but two inbound lanes have been reopened at a reduced speed.
All outbound lanes are open, but there are long delays stretching from Kings Way to the Bolte Bridge.
Citylink says damage to the overpass is being assessed and repair work will start immediately.
Crews spent much of the day working to retrieve the truck, which collided with a car and bounced across the freeway, smashing into a side barrier on CityLink in early peak-hour traffic.
Officials have moved the truck from its precarious position, and inbound lanes have reopened between Flemington Road and Footscray Road.
Police say the large truck was travelling southbound in the right-hand lane on CityLink at around 6:30am (AEST) when a car tried to merge in front of it.
It is while trying to take evasive action and then bounced across the freeway coming to rest on top of one of the side barriers.
The trailers dangled precariously over the side of the bridge and the driver fell from the upside down cabin.
He landed on top of some concrete debris 15 metres below and is in a critical condition at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
The driver of the car that hit the truck has been taken to the Alfred Hospital with minor injuries.
The accident caused rush-hour traffic chaos across the city this morning, with one eyewitness describing it as being like a scene out of a Hollywood movie.
Seven hours after the crash, a crane carefully lifted the truck off the side of the bridge and on to the roadway, as trains on the Upfield line were temporarily halted as a precaution.
The MFB brought in a small drone to take pictures of the side of the truck that they could not see from the bridge and a cherry picker was used to examine the vehicle before it was moved.
Lane change led to Vic bridge plunge
AAP
A truck veered across four lanes of a busy Melbourne highway and was left dangling from a bridge, closing the road for hours, after a collision apparently caused by a botched lane change.
The 39-year-old driver of the truck is in hospital in a critical condition, while a second driver escaped the CityLink tollway pile-up with only minor injuries.
Detectives believe his car clipped the side of the truck during a lane change early on Friday morning.
The car spun around and came to a stop directly in front of the fast-moving truck, police say.
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"The truck has swerved and has hit the right barrier, then veered across four lanes, heavily impacting the concrete barrier on the left," a police spokeswoman said.
The force of the truck's movement ejected the driver and he fell nearly 20 metres onto Mark Street, below the Bolte Bridge.
He was found by a factory worker with serious injuries.
"I just made sure he was conscious and kept him calm until paramedics were able to take over," the worker told the Seven Network.
"He kept saying he was going to die."
The car driver, a 25-year-old man, is in stable condition.
The truck was removed hours later in a operation requiring the use of several cranes.
Train services on the Upfield line, which runs under the site, were suspended during the delicate operation.
"It's a pretty intense, horrific sort of incident," MFB Assistant Chief Officer Adam Dalrymple said.
The crash coincided with the launch of a police campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of driving with heavy vehicles.
"There's several measures around distance, around braking distances, and to always be mindful about that when you're in the vicinity of a heavy vehicle," Superintendent Neville Taylor said of the campaign's objectives.
The crash also left a crack in a brick wall of a building beneath the bridge, and fire crews examined the building to make sure it was not in danger of collapsing.
The CityLink tollway inbound lanes were closed for at least 10 hours around the crash site but were expected to reopen on Friday evening.
