The Bruce Hwy is now closed in both directions through Monkland after a horror crash killed one man and left another in hospital early this afternoon.
Police are diverting southbound traffic via Langton Rd, while northbound traffic is being diverted via Venardos Dr.
UPDATE 3.30pm: ONE man is dead and another in hospital after a horror crash on the Bruce Hwy in Gympie.
Police told the Gympie Times a middle-aged man driving a ute was killed after colliding with a light truck on the Bruce Hwy at Monkland.
The male driver of the truck has been taken to Gympie Hospital with minor injuries.
The Bruce Hwy northbound lanes are at a standstill and police are diverting traffic via Venardos Dr.
SEARING heat was the backdrop for tragedy in Gympie today, with the middle-aged male driver of a white ute killed in a two vehicle crash on the Bruce Hwy at Monkland within the last hour.
Highway traffic remains at a standstill as emergency services try to clear the scene and forensic crash investigators arriving from Brisbane to try to determine just what happened earlier this afternoon which led to one person’s shocking death at the confronting scene near Performax, just south of the traffic lights on the highway in Gympie.
Northbound traffic has come to a halt on the Bruce Hwy at Six Mile and police are diverting traffic via Venardos Dr.
The horrific, mangled remains of the ute are still on the highway and northbound traffic is blocked, while southbound traffic is now being diverted down Hall Rd past Bunnings. The front end of the ute has been completely crushed against the tray of the vehicle, leaving very little of the chassis intact.
The other vehicle involved in the accident appears to be a light truck carrying tree lopping equipment.
An eye witness says the ute appeared to have travelling north on the highway and the light truck truck south.
The cause of the accident is still unknown, as is the extent of injuries to the person or people travelling in the truck, and any details of the tragically deceased sole occupant of the ute.