About 200 sheep were killed or euthanised following a truck rollover at the north Deniliquin roundabout on Tuesday, blocking traffic at the main entrance to the town for about five hours.
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The incident prompted some locals to question whether safety improvements are needed at the roundabout, but stakeholders have suggested the incidents are not frequent enough for the road condition to be considered a major concern.
Murray River Police District Chief Inspector Michael Fuller said the rollover prompted a multi-agency response, with partial road closure from the time the call came in at 3.52pm until about 9pm.
He confirmed the truck was carrying 650 sheep, and was entering the roundabout from Davidson St to turn right on Finley Rd.
The 43 year-old male driver did suffer minor injuries during the rollover.
The driver has since been fined.
“As the vehicle turned right on the roundabout, the heavy vehicle stock transport vehicle and trailers rolled over blocking part of the roadway and resulting in a number of sheep coming out onto the roadway and nature strip. The rest remained in the rolled over transport vehicle,” Chief Insp Fuller said.
“Emergency services responded with the driver being taken to hospital for assessment.
“He is believed to have sustained only minor injuries as a result of the road crash.
“The driver was issued an infringement notice for negligent driving.”
Attending from police were officers attached to Rural Crime and Highway, as well as general duties police.
Other agencies involved included Deniliquin Rescue Squad - VRA Rescue NSW, Deniliquin Fire + Rescue NSW, Local Land Services, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, Ambulance, and Edward River Council staff.
Thanks have also been expressed to members of the community who assisted, including staff from the Conargo Feedlot, Elders Rural Services, Nutrien and transport operator Brad McCallum and his staff member.
“As a result of the road crash, about 200 sheep died,” Chief Insp Fuller said.
“This included those who were euthanised in accordance with injured livestock animal response protocols, with the expertise of Local Land Services specialist staff and disposal in accordance with established protocols.
“The remaining live sheep were removed from the vehicle and taken to yards to be managed by their owner.
“A heavy vehicle recovery operation to remove the heavy vehicle continued until about 9pm, when the heavy vehicle and trailers were removed.
“Traffic management around the road crash was put in place until the roadway was fully opened with minimal disruptions to the road network.”
Edward River Council said the road was officially reopened about 10pm.
Chief Insp Fuller said it was a “significant” operation, and thanked everyone involved.
“Police want to commend the response to the road crash and livestock management by emergency services and agencies, and in particular commend a number of local rural industry workers and community members with experience with livestock.
“In the initial response as the multi-agency operation was established, there was a great community effort to free uninjured livestock from the rolled over livestock transport vehicle and contain them off the roadway.
“The initial actions and support from the rural industry experienced community members likely helped the number of livestock safely removed alive from the vehicle as the multi-agency response operation stood up.”
Elders Deniliquin branch manager John Fitzpatrick and his staff were among those to provide assistance.
He said while they did not see the truck roll, they jumped to attention at their nearby Albert St offices as soon as they realised.
“Most of us were working inside, while a couple of us were actually just heading outside. That’s when we heard that a truck had rolled over.”
“We all jumped down and helped out.”
When the Elders’ staff arrived at the scene, they assessed the situation and sought help from others nearby with livestock experience to start tending to the sheep.
“When we got there, the top two decks (of sheep) had come out.
“A few staff helped lock them in the fenced area near the storage sheds, and a few of us helped wrangle the rest of them.
“Brad McCallum, a local livestock transporter, and one of his blokes were there. We also called Geoff McCallum and Marc Braybon from Nutrien.”
“We tried to get the rest of the sheep out of there from the bottom deck of the truck.
“We worked out what we had to do and proceeded with that - we just did what needed to be done.”
Mr Fitzpatrick said truck rollovers are not a common occurrence at the North Deniliquin roundabout for the amount of transport traffic that goes through that section of road.
“The amount of livestock trucks that go through there each day, let alone trucks in general, it has hardly ever happened.
“It’s a once in a blue moon sort of thing.”
The rollover occurred on what was a sheep market day in Deniliquin, but Mr Fitzpatrick confirmed the sheep being transported were not sold at Deniliquin.
Also witnessing the aftermath of the rollover was Hay Rd resident Val Meadowcroft.
She was in her front yard when the rollover occurred, but only heard the incident.
“I didn’t see anything, although I heard a big sound, like the brakes, a big screeching halt, of a dropped anchor, then a bang,” she said.
“I was walking down my driveway to collect my mail.
“Everyone involved with the clean-up has done a brilliant job.
“Some of them seemed to work late into the night, but you wouldn’t even know that there’d been any sheep there at all.”
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