Updated, Monday July 16: A truck driver had a lucky escape after his vehicle left Bangalow Road and plunged cabin-first into the Wilsons River in a single-vehicle accident on Saturday evening (July 14).
Chief Inspector Bobbie Cullen from Tweed-Byron police told Echonetdaily the truck left the roadway and ploughed through a barbed wire fence before hitting a tree and then plunging into the river.
VRA and NSW Fire & Rescue attended the crash, which happened soon after 7pm.
‘There was a 3.5 tonne bobcat on the truck, which lurched forward and trapped the driver in the cabin,’ Ch Ins Cullen said, adding however that he was extracted safely from the crash ‘still conscious, soon after’.
An Echonetdaily reader who passed the site of the accident said that man’s dog was not so lucky and died in the crash.
The driver was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital, where his condition is reported to be ‘stable with no life-threatening injuries’.
He will be interviewed by police when he is discharged from hospital.
Original report: A truck accident near Booyong Road on Bangalow Road has stopped traffic in both directions.
The Transport Management Centre reports the accident occurred just after 7pm Saturday evening (July 14).
Between 7 and 8pm a number of emergency vehicles were heard travelling along Bangalow Road.
Motorists are being advised to use the Pacific Highway and Bruxner Highway as an alternative route.