Boy, 7, dies in fiery crash while spending time with dad during holidays
A young boy who died in a terrible accident when two trucks collided on a highway near Toowoomba has been identified.
Ryan Pringle, 7, was spending time with his dad, Ben, on Thursday when the unthinkable happened.
Their truck smashed into the back of Lyndon Pfeffer’s rig on the Gore Highway as the former Ag-Force Grains president turned into his farm at Pampas.
Ryan could not be saved. His father was seriously injured in the accident.
Distraught relatives helped load both drivers into rescue helicopters.
The other truck driver, 62, arrived at the Princess Alexandra Hospital with critical head injuries.
He was taken directly to the intensive care unit.
“[He’s] in an induced coma, and we’re all hoping and praying that he pulls through this incident,” the truck driver’s friend Wayne Newton said on Friday.
The terrible accident prompted tributes from truck drivers around the country, including fellow truckie Tom Uborg who witnessed the inferno and went to help.
“Everything was just well alight and [the] flames were just terrible and tyres exploding,” Mr Uborg recalled.
Mr Uborg helped firefighters douse the flames and had also been travelling with his own son at the time.
“I had my 12-year-old son in my truck with me. It hits home fairly well, you know, when you want to spend time with your kids and you don’t get home much,” Mr Uborg said.
Truck drivers on Friday were driving with their lights on in memory of a young life lost.
