The cause of a horror crash that claimed the lives of four women in their 20s on Queensland’s New England Highway has been revealed.
Police allege the tragedy occurred when a car failed to give way to a high speed truck shortly after 5.30pm Wednesday on the Sawmill road intersection, between Warwick and Stanthorpe.
The semi-trailer smashed into the side of the Honda CRV and continued down the highway before coming to a stop, killing all four Korean nationals inside.
Queensland police said they died at the scene.
The truck driver was taken to the Stanthorpe hospital in a state of shock and remains in a stable condition
Assistant commissioner Mike Condon said the crash was a result of a simple driving error.
“It was raining, but it would appear this was a simple fail to give way and they moved out onto the highway and were struck on the driver’s side of the vehicle,” he said.
“We are talking to the Korean consulate at the moment and working through the process (of informing the families)”.
The women were believed to have finished work at a nearby orchard when the tragedy occurred.
The Korean backpackers had arrived in Australia just a few weeks before the accident.
Mr Condon urged holiday-goers to drive to the conditions this Easter long weekend and reinforced high volumes of police would be on patrol.
He said the state had already lost 11 more lives than this time last year.
More than 59 drivers have been detected committing road offences since the Easter campaign aiming to keep drivers safe during the busy period was announced by police last week.
Steven Johns from the Queensland Ambulance Service said the tragic event was confronting for those at the scene.
“These accidents xjmtzywdo take tolls on our first responders,” he said.
All northbound lanes on the highway were closed, with a diversion in place for northbound traffic as Queensland Fire and Emergency services remained at the scene overnight.
All lanes have since reopened.
Mr Condon warned there may be further delays when the forensic crash unit returns to reassess the scene on Thursday.
Witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage have been urged to come forward to police.
