Australia’s Suez Canal: HUGE piece of mining machinery is blocking a major Queensland highway with traffic backed up for 15km
- Dump truck bed falls off a semi-trailer blocking a major Australian highway
- The mining machinery dropped off on the Peak Downs Highway at Epsom
- Traffic in the area has been backed up for 15km as police wait for a crane
A major highway has been blocked after a giant dump truck bed fell off a semi-trailer sprawling across two lanes.
The Mining machinery dropped off at about 7am on Wednesday on the Peak Downs Highway at Epsom, 65km southwest of Mackay in Queensland.
A crane has been called in to move the heavy equipment along with at least four police crews who are attempting to divert about 15km of backed up traffic from the area, Channel 9 reported.
A major highway has been blocked after a giant dump truck bed fell off a semi-trailer sprawling across two lanes
‘The Peak Downs Highway will be CLOSED at Epsom due to issues with a wide load, diversions in place via Nebo, however B-doubles will be unable to go around. Delays expected,’ Queensland Police said on Twitter.
Many Facebook users were not surprised by the blunder.
‘The roads are so bad up there and you see heaps of wrecked caravans on the sides of the roads…it’s not always driver error,’ one person wrote.
‘It should be four lanes from Mackay to Moranbah, two in two out, which would make it wide enough for wide loads and cars travelling in the opposite direction,’ another said.
The Mining machinery dropped off at about 7am on Wednesday on the Peak Downs Highway at Epsom, 65km southwest of Mackay in Queensland
A crane has been called in to move the heavy equipment along with at least four police crews who are attempting to divert about 15km of traffic from the area, Channel 9 reported
Many others poked fun at the blockage.
‘This is what happens when you don’t flick the straps and proclaim proudly ‘that’s not going anywhere!’ before you leave,’ a commenter joked.
Others likened it to the Suez canal crisis which shutdown global trade just over a week ago.
The Suez Canal linking Europe and the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean and Asia was blocked for about one week after the Ever Given cargo ship ran aground.
The disruption is estimated to have cost the global economy $4.5billion for every day it was out of action.
The Peak Downs Highway is not expected to be quite as bad.
Police are expecting the road to be reopened later tonight.
No injuries have been reported.
The ship was trapped for six days before authorities finally managed to set it free in an operation involving tug boats and diggers
The disruption is estimated to have cost the global economy $4.5billion for every day it was out of action