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Date: June 29 2012
A man crushed under a semi-trailer in an accident yesterday was a young father, police have said.
The Liverpool man was waiting at traffic lights on the Cumberland Highway when a truck carrying 20 tonnes of timber turned a corner and toppled over on to his car.
He was killed instantly under the weight of a shipping container.
Toys were found in the back of his silver Camry and Inspector Steve Blair of the Metropolitan Crash Investigation Unit said he was a family man.
The 46-year-old truck driver may have been speeding when he turned left from the Hume Highway on to the Cumberland Highway at Liverpool, Inspector Blair said.
The driver hit a median strip and tipped on to three cars waiting at the lights.
One witness, Pari Perras, said on Facebook it looked as if the truck was travelling fast.
It took several hours for rescuers to lift the shipping container off the car containing the man, aged in his early 30s.
Police then spent the evening visiting several addresses to try and locate the man's family.
Two other cars were hit by the falling truck but were miraculously unaffected. Inspector Blair said a driver and passenger in a green Camry were ''so, so lucky''.
Their car was sandwiched in between the shipping container, which fell on the car in front, and the truck's cabin, which separated from the load and fell behind the green Camry.
A third vehicle, a ute, also had a lucky escape. Its driver watched as the truck's cabin fell, scraping the front of his car. The truck driver was taken to Liverpool Hospital with chest injuries. He will undergo tests.
The other drivers were said to be in shock. It is unclear whether the truck's load was properly secured. The vehicle will be taken to a Roads and Maritime facility for testing. One local resident, Carl Sinden, said the busy corner was dangerous.
Mr Sinden said one of the turning lanes had recently been changed into a left-only turning lane, confusing many road users.
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