A man has died after a tree hit his ute in a freak accident on the M1 Princes Motorway on Wednesday morning.
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The large gum tree snapped apart in windy conditions and came down directly on top of the man’s southbound ute.
NSW Ambulance paramedics worked on the roadside to revive him, but he succumbed to his injuries a short time ago.
The roadway reopened at 11.10am, but traffic remains heavy.
Truck driver Robert Tindall was travelling behind the ute when the tree came down.
“I saw out of the corner of my eye the tree starting to fall down, then it just fell straight on top of the car,” Mr Tindall said.
“The ute, obviously because he didn’t know what happened, has hit the concrete barrier pretty hard.
“It was like it happened in slow motion, then bang,” he said.
He said he couldn’t avoid driving over the tree branches and the contents of the man’s ute, which spilled across the road on impact.
The rescue chopper landed on the motorway at 10.02am.
A woman travelling in a car behind the ute saw the tree come down and hit.
"He [the ute driver] did nothing wrong,” she said. The shaken woman left the scene a short time ago.
All lanes have reopened but traffic remains extremely heavy.
A large number of SES personnel worked to clear the tree that fell across the southbound lanes.