Tributes have poured in for a man who was one of three people killed in a horror five-car smash on a major motorway in Queensland.
Sidney Marstella, 53, was driving his SUV when it collided with a semi-trailer on the Bruce Highway in Maryborough, around 270km north of Brisbane just before 10pm on Friday night.
The semi-trailer then hit another truck before colliding with a ute and a caravan trailer.
Mr Marstella and the drivers of the two trucks were tragically killed in the crash which residents say they heard from kilometres away.
Two of the vehicles caught fire and one of the trucks was carrying a load of lithium batteries which sparked loud explosions and a fireball.
It’s understood Mr Marstella had turned right from an intersection into one of the trucks.
Tributes have poured in from loved ones after Sidney Marstella (pictured) died in a horror five car crash in Queensland on Friday night
Loved ones have since shared tributes to Mr Marstella, who was remembered by his niece Leticia Wise as a ‘comedian’ who made everyone laugh.
‘This hurts so much. Cannot believe I’ll never see or hear from you again,’ Ms Wise wrote to Facebook.
‘He was very well known in Maryborough. Those who knew Sid Marstella know he was a big, kind, loving, helpful friend.’
Family friend Tabitha Pershouse uploaded an emotional post in honour of Mr Marstella on Saturday.
‘R.I.P Sidney Marstella. Cannot believe you’re gone, we will definitely catch up with you again mate love always & forever,’ she wrote.
A 22-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man from the Northern Territory who were in the ute travelling north suffered minor injuries after their vehicle crashed into the trailers of both trucks.
A 50-year-old man who was driving the vehicle towing the caravan was also injured in the crash but was not seriously harmed.
The two trucks burst into flames almost instantly (pictured) following the collision on Friday night
Emergency services including fire and rescue crews rushed to the scene on Friday night, with firefighters still there on Saturday hosing down one of the trucks and clearing debris.
The identifies of the two truck drivers killed have not yet been released.
‘Due to the collision and the damage to both vehicles we’ve had to call in the disaster victim identification police from Brisbane to assess the remains of the people at the scene so that we can obtain the identities of these people,’ Queensland Police Acting Superintendent Paul Algie told reporters on Saturday.
Emergency crews including firefighters rushed to the scene to battle the blaze (pictured) and parts of the motorway were closed on Saturday as authorities investigated the cause of the incident
He said investigators were looking into the crash being caused by a ‘failure to give way’.
‘The two trucks collided and burst into flames instantaneously,’ Act Supt Algie said.
One of the trucks was carrying the lithium batteries and the other had a load of watermelons.
The intersection was closed for most of Saturday as emergency crews continue to investigate the cause of the incident.
A woman on an online community group said she heard explosions from a suburb 5km away.
‘I heard the explosions here at Oakhurst. Was horrible, my heart dropped, so sad,’ she said.
A driver who had been on the road near the site told the group there was a truck on fire and multiple smaller explosions as the cargo of paint cans ignited.
‘Police stopped me there and told me to turn around,’ they said.
‘It was also raining pretty hard. Not to mention sitting there I could hear and see small explosions, which was reported later to be paint cans.
‘I’m devastated to hear that people passed away in this event.’
Anyone who saw the crash or has dashcam footage of the collision has been urged to contact police.
A horror crash in Lithgow in western NSW (pictured) saw two drivers killed and at least 15 others injured