On 30 August 2024, a utility vehicle crashed head-on with a truck transporting 41 tonnes of ammonium nitrate before exploding near Bororen, Queensland.
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On 30 August 2024, a utility vehicle crashed head-on with a truck transporting 41 tonnes of ammonium nitrate before exploding near Bororen, Queensland.
At approximately 5:10 am AEST, a utility vehicle crashed head-on with a truck transporting 41 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. [1] [2] The cause of the crash is under investigation. [3]
The truck was transporting 41 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser that is also highly explosive. [4] It caught fire shortly after the crash. The driver was pulled from the truck by bystanders following the crash. The crash caused the tanker to leak ammonium nitrate onto the Bruce Highway, a major highway in Queensland. [5] First responders noted that the leaked chemicals were on fire [5] and ordered an evacuation of every person in a 2.5 kilometre radius of the crash. [3] First responders made the decision to not extinguish the fire because of the inherit risk. [5]
The ammonium nitrate exploded at 9:40 am AEST causing a shockwave that was felt as far as Gladstone, roughly 55 kilometres away from the explosion site. [5] A mushroom cloud rose into the sky and the explosion threw debris up to 50 metres onto the other side of the highway. [1]
There was no casualties from the explosion however there was minor damage to powerlines in the area, as well as some spot fires. [5] The truck driver was airlifted to hospital and the driver of the utility vehicle remains the only casualty. [1]
Nitroglycerin (NG), also known as trinitroglycerol (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless or pale yellow, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating glycerol with white fuming nitric acid under conditions appropriate to the formation of the nitric acid ester. Chemically, the substance is an organic nitrate compound rather than a nitro compound, but the traditional name is retained. Discovered in 1846 by Ascanio Sobrero, nitroglycerin has been used as an active ingredient in the manufacture of explosives, namely dynamite, and as such it is employed in the construction, demolition, and mining industries. It is combined with nitrocellulose to form double-based smokeless powder, used as a propellant in artillery and firearms since the 1880s.
Trinitrotoluene, more commonly known as TNT (and more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene), and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard comparative convention of bombs and asteroid impacts. In chemistry, TNT is used to generate charge transfer salts.
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula NH4NO3. It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is predominantly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer.
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