NSW: One dead and 14 hurt in motorbike pile up

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-1998
NSW: One dead and 14 hurt in motorbike pile up

Eds: changing keyword from TOLL NSW

SYDNEY, Dec 12 AAP - A motorcyclist was killed today when a car and a motorbike collided
causing a 50-bike pile-up north of Sydney as a mass motorcade was underway to commemorate a
cult biker film.

Fourteen other bikers were injured, eight seriously.

Police said it appeared a car and a bike collided, toppling up to 50 other riders
in the 20,000-strong motorcade travelling north on the Sydney to Newcastle freeway near
Tuggerah.

The victims were among a group of bikers from throughout Australia involved in a road trip
commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Australian cult classic film: Stone.

The noon pile-up near the Cobbs Road overpass north of Tuggerah came less than halfway
through their journey from Berowra to Raymond Terrace.

Police said a motor vehicle may have been involved in the tragedy which claimed the life of
one man, whose name and age was unknown, and injured at least 14 others.

"Our initial inquiries indicate that possibly some sort of collision between a motor
vehicle and motorcyclists ... has caused a concertina, domino effect," a spokesman said.

An ambulance spokesman said two people with spinal injuries had been airlifted to hospital.

The CareFlight rescue helicopter had flown a A 53-year-old man with spinal injuries to
Royal North Shore Hospital, while the Newcastle Westpac crew had flown another man with
similar injuries to the John Hunter Hospital, in Newcastele.

Three people had sustained serious head injuries and three others multiple limb injuries.

A CareFlight spokesman said at least another six had suffered minor injuries and had been
taken to hospital.

He said it was impossible to calculate precisely how many people had been hurt, with an
array of road ambulances, rescue crews and emergency personnel tending the walking wounded in
a scene of chaos.

The accident closed a section of the freeway in both directions for almost three hours.

The northbound lanes remained closed at 2.30pm while the southbound lanes had been
reopened.

The motorcyclists trip was to celebrate the anniversary of the cult biker movie: Stone.

The plot of the 1974 Australian film directed by Sandy Harbutts had members of the Grave
Diggers Motorcycle Club being murdered one by one after witnessing a political assassination,
while an undercover policeman attempts to solve the crimes.

AAP jo/cjh

KEYWORD: BIKERS (CHANGES SLUG)

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