A12 crash driver dies after his truck plunges from bridge onto busy dual carriageway before bursting into fireball
A section of the road in Witham, Essex, remains closed this morning as investigators work
THE DRIVER of a lorry that crashed off a bridge on to a busy dual carriageway before bursting into a fireball yesterday afternoon, has died.
Drivers travelling on the A12 in Witham, Essex, said it was a miracle the lorry did not smash into cars when it plummeted from Colman's Bridge on to the road below at about 3.45pm.
Essex Police said the driver, a man in his 30s, was pronounced dead shortly after the crash by the ambulance service.
Video footage shot in the aftermath of the horror crash showed a man holding a fire extinguisher walking around the mangled remains of the lorry.
Highways England said the A12 northbound has reopened this morning but the south side is expected to remain closed for several hours as police continue to investigate and remove 26 tonnes of batteries from the container.
A witness to the crash told: "I'm going home northbound, and I've come around the bend, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"I saw this lorry hit the barrier on the bridge and all the metal railings were flying off like anything, and I thought, 'Jesus, he's going to come over'.
"The traffic started to slow down on the northbound of the A12, and then the lorry's just come off the bridge, gone through the trees on the embankment, and just come all the way down and smashed onto the floor, and all the railings, all the concrete, came down onto the floor.
"It's a miracle that no cars were hit on the A12.
"I'm not allowed to say anything else of what I saw, as I slowed right down - there were no police there, just other lorry drivers stopping to help.
"It was horrific, absolutely horrific.
"It's something like out of an adventure movie, I'm quite shaken up about it.
"I don't know what's happened, it was just crazy."
Video footage from the scene shows a stunned man with a fire extinguisher walk around the mangled remains of the lorry holding a fire extinguisher.
Metal railings from the bridge can be seen hanging down over the bust A12 below.
Five crews from Essex Fire and Rescue, police officers and an air ambulance were called to the scene.
Joe McCallum, from Essex, arrived on the scene immediately after the crash and said part of the lorry container was on fire.
A photo he posted on Twitter showed a crumpled vehicle resting on the barriers of the carriageway below, spilling over into the road.
The 28-year-old van driver said he believed it was a lorry carrying frozen goods, but that he could not see anything more due to its "mangled" state.
Essex Police have asked anyone who witnessed the incident or has any dashcam to contact them on 101.
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