2024 Bruce Highway explosion

On 30 August 2024, near Bororen, Queensland, a utility vehicle crashed head-on with a truck transporting 42.5 tonnes of ammonium nitrate which exploded.

At approximately 5:10 am AEST, a utility vehicle collided head-on with a truck transporting 42.5 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.

[3] The truck was transporting 42.5 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a highly explosive fertiliser.

[5] First responders ordered an evacuation of a 2.5 kilometre radius of the crash,[3] and decided to not extinguish the fire because of the inherent risk.

[5] 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.

A photo released by the Queensland Police Service of the wreckage.
The mushroom cloud produced by the explosion.