Two personnel in serious condition after accident near city lashed by torrential rain brought by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred
Twelve soldiers remain in hospital – two in a serious condition – after two army trucks carrying troops rolled on a country road near Lismore on Saturday evening as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred lashed the northern New South Wales coast and southern Queensland.
Thirty-two defence personnel were involved in the crash – members of the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, part of the 7th Brigade based at Gallipoli Barracks in northern Brisbane – just after 5pm on Tregeagle Road, 9km south-west of Lismore.
A first Rheinmetall MAN 40M truck, driving towards Lismore, left the road in slippery conditions and rolled several times in a paddock. The second truck, while trying to avoid the first, tipped over on to its side. The two vehicles did not hit each other.
NSW police superintendent Scott Tanner said four soldiers were still “trapped” inside the vehicles when he arrived on the scene.
One truck had left the road and had overturned in a paddock, while the other was blocking the entire road.
“Tregeagle Road is a small country road, not very wide,” he said.
“It was a very hectic scene when we arrived. We had patients of varying injuries up and down the roadway and four persons trapped.”
All of the soldiers were wearing seatbelts, Tanner said.
The ADF was deployed to Lismore to help the community brace for the impact of Alfred and expected flooding after days of torrential rainfall. The city was hit by unprecedented flooding in 2022: this year the city has been left without power or water for 72 hours but levee banks on the Wilsons River have held – so far.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said there were 32 soldiers onboard the two trucks: 13 were injured, six seriously. By Sunday 12 remained in Lismore Base hospital, two in a serious condition. NSW police said everyone had been wearing seatbelts.
“Everyone at the scene did their best to look after their mates,” Albanese said on Sunday morning.
“For the extraordinary members of the Australian defence force there are no easy days, every day could bring danger, every day carries risk and yet they step up and face them for us, the Australian people.
“These men and women are heroes who were on their way to help people in need. They were doing this at a time when some of their own families were bearing the brunt of Alfred.”
The two army trucks had been configured to carry troops – 16 were in each vehicle at the time of the crashes – and the soldiers were undertaking route-clearance work to keep roads across the region open.
In 2023 an ADF defence strategic review argued that the military was “not structured or appropriately equipped to act as a domestic disaster recovery agency concurrently with its core function, in any sustainable way”. The government conceded that the ADF being consistently called upon to assist with natural disaster response and recovery “comes at a cost to force preparedness, readiness and combat effectiveness”.
Asked on Sunday about the review’s position, the defence minister, Richard Marles, defended the use of the military in disaster relief, saying while there was an ongoing “conversation” about how the ADF should be deployed, it had the skills and equipment to keep people safe.
“In a given disaster right now, defence will always be there to present … we will be there and we will continue to lean forward to make sure that all the capabilities are provided.”
He said defence force personnel were proud to contribute to disaster relief efforts, “to help our fellow Australians”.
“For those who do this work, they are enormously proud, understandably, of what they do. They are grateful for the opportunity. And that will continue to be the case.
“We very much thank them for their service, and our thoughts are very much with those who have been injured. In this moment, we are reminded about the selflessness of those who wear our nation’s uniform, and we are deeply grateful to them.”
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, praised the efforts of soldiers, and said he hoped the accident did not diminish the ADF’s willingness to contribute to disaster preparedness and relief.
“When it comes to the involvement of the ADF in civil matters, particularly natural disasters, we are full praise for the dedication and selflessness of ADF personnel.”
Minns said he wanted to see more, not less, defence involvement in disaster response.
“Notwithstanding the accident last night, this is incredibly important when it comes to community confidence, the skills and expertise of the ADF, and I would hate to see it dampen the federal government’s involvement in these natural disasters: the bottom line is we need you, you do an incredible job, and we are very grateful for it.”
The cause of the accident is being investigated.