A Victorian farmer has revealed how he discovered a truck driver, assumed dead, wandering around his property 36 hours after a fiery crash near Hamilton, which killed a South Australian man.
Bryce Peterson was thought to have been killed after his B-Double truck collided with a 4WD on the Glenelg Highway in Tarrington on February 9, but he had in fact stumbled onto Ben Walkenhorst’s farm 16km away in Penshurst.
Mr Walkenhorst found Mr Peterson sleeping among bales of wool in a shed on the property.
“He told me he’s been in a truck accident, he didn’t seem real clear at what had happened or where he was,” Mr Walkenhorst told 9NEWS.
“I basically asked him what he was wanting from me, I asked if he wanted to go to hospital and he agreed.”
Mr Peterson, 51, from Glen Waverley, only suffered minor burns in the incinerated wreck and was treated at Hamilton Hospital.
He faced a brief filing hearing today, where he was charged with failing to stop and failing to render assistance at the accident.
Tony Heness, 26, was killed on impact after his Mitsubishi Pajero slammed head-on into the truck.
His 17-year-old passenger, Jarred Mackay remains in a critical condition at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Mr Peterson was granted bail and will appear in court for a committal mention in December.
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