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Horrifying moment a mushroom cloud explodes in the skies over Australia as a truckload of mine explosive material RUNS – and a truck driver miraculously runs away with his life
- Truck carried a cargo of ammonium nitrate emulsion, used in mining
- The driver was able to escape in time after one of the wheels caught fire
A road train carrying tons of mining equipment caught fire and exploded, sending a mushroom cloud of dangerous smoke into the air.
One of the vehicle’s wheels caught fire near Cosmo Newbury – about 1,000 km east of Perth in the remote Western Australian Goldfields region – as the lorry driver frantically disconnected his lorry from the load.
The driver managed to get away at a safe distance before his cargo of ammonium nitrate emulsion exploded.
The blast — which happened around noon on October 24 — was so massive that a 1.5-meter-deep crater formed in the middle of the road.
The truck exploded, sending a mushroom cloud (pictured) of dangerous smoke into the sky and invoking a 2km exclusion zone for police
Burning debris from the explosion sparked several small fires in the surrounding bushland, the ABC reported.
The explosion was so loud, it could be heard and felt far in the distance. An investigation is now underway.
A contractor at the Gruyere gold mine — where the truck was headed — said the blast was felt by workers there.
“The shock wave was felt in the buildings of the mine, 40 kilometers away,” said the man, who did not want to be named. ABC.
“They ran out to see what went wrong and saw a huge white smoke of ammonium in the sky.”
The Gruyere Mine Emergency Response Team and the local police arrived on the scene.
Police were able to set a two-kilometer exclusion zone around the trailer before it exploded.
Shortly after the blast, a Western Australia Department of Fire and Emergency Officers arrived on the scene.
Crater on the road: The truck was sunk by the driver after one of the wheels caught fire near Cosmo Newbury, about 1,000 kilometers east of Perth
After the explosion, the area was checked for safety before the incident was taken over by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS).
Samples were collected for analysis to help identify the cause of the explosion.
“While dangerous goods are transported on WA’s roads on a daily basis, the storage, movement and handling of these goods is strictly controlled,” said Steve Emery, director at DMIRS.
The blast — which happened around noon on October 24 — was so massive that it left a 1.5-meter-deep crater (pictured) in the middle of the road.
However, the explosion at Cosmo Newbury follows other resource accidents under investigation after two people died in WA mines within three days last month.
Laverton Shire president Pat Hill said he was very fortunate that no one was injured in the October 24 explosion.
“It’s lucky it happened where no one was around, and not through a town like Laverton, Kalgoorlie, or Coolgardie,” he said.
A report on the explosion of ammonium nitrate emulsion is expected in the coming days.