1989 Road transport, October 20, Grafton

A pre-dawn collision near Cowper, between a semi-trailer and a coach on the Pacific Highway killed 21 people, including the truck driver, & injured 22. The impact ripped the driver's side of the bus off, which threw passengers across the highway.

The collision occurred when the semi-trailer veered onto the wrong side of the highway. The coach driver tried to swerve to avoid the oncoming semi-trailer but both vehicles collided. The semi-trailer careered on after the collision & jack-knifed into a ditch. The coach ran into a roadside ditch, which halted only metres from a river.