Drugs suspected in truck crash

The drivers of the two trucks died in a head-on smash on SH 26. Photo / Stephen Barker

A suspicious substance has been found in the cab of one of the two trucks which collided near Hamilton yesterday, leaving both drivers dead.

Police would not say what they thought the substance was or what role it may have played in the crash but speculation was that it could be an illegal drug.

The crash, on State Highway 26 at Newstead about 7.30am, killed 61-year-old truck driver Hugh Leonard Ferguson, and left an 18-year-old passenger with a broken leg. The other driver, the sole occupant of a white truck who is yet to be named by police, also died.

The sound of the impact brought Quality Road Construction director Bryan Atkinson to the road. "It was bloody loud. I was inside my office and heard this boom; it sounded like a bomb going off," Atkinson said.

A bus driver had stopped to help Ferguson, whose passenger limped out of the carnage with just a broken leg, he said.

"The other guy [Ferguson] was conscious, only just, and he looked pretty crook. He was holding his head up and mumbling," Atkinson said. "Another young fellow in the red truck was limping around said 'thank God I had my safety belt on'."

Ferguson, a co-director of Shaw Asphalters Limited, was transporting a roller from Hamilton when, police said, the white ute crossed the centre-line. Atkinson said Ferguson's truck skidded off the road and into his front hedge while the other one landed on the other side of the road. The front of both trucks were ripped off.

"It was pretty messy and noisy. There was no fuel on the road, just all the debris."

Ferguson family friend Sue Lalich said his wife Christine was too traumatised to talk to the Herald on Sunday.

"He [Hugh] had a huge smile and never said a bad word about anybody, he was larger than life," Lalich said. She described him as a family man who had left behind children and grandchildren.

Police Senior Sergeant Peter van de Wetering said they were investigating a substance "of concern" found in the white utility.