Sydney Harbour Bridge crash was filmed in ‘confronting’ CCTV footage

Confronting CCTV footage captured the horrific moment a woman was killed in a horror car crash after driving her Mitsubishi Mirage across two lanes on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and into oncoming traffic. 

The Mirage was travelling north when it collided with a BMW heading south on the bridge at 7.15am on Thursday.

A 40-year-old woman driving the BMW was trapped inside her mangled car for ‘some time’ before being freed and taken to hospital with a fractured leg and spinal injuries. Her passenger, 40, was miraculously uninjured.

The Mirage passengers – two men aged 21 and 23 – were taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The younger man is fighting for his life with critical head injuries while the older man is in a stable condition. 

Acting Superintendent Paul Dunstan said he has watched ‘confronting’ CCTV footage of the crash, which is currently being reviewed by investigators and has not been released. 

‘It would appear at this stage that the vehicle travelling in the northbound direction has crossed two lanes of traffic and collided with the vehicle travelling south which was in its correct lane,’ Mr Dunstan said. 

‘I have seen footage of the incident, and that’s how it appears in the early stages.’ 

Acting Superintendent Paul Dunstan (pictured) said he has watched ‘confronting’ CCTV footage of the crash, which is currently being reviewed by investigators

When asked why exactly the red Mitsubishi crossed two lanes of heavy oncoming traffic, Mr Dunstan said it was ‘too early to say at this stage’.  

‘It was peak hour, it was extremely heavy traffic. It does appear that one lane had lighter traffic in it and they’ve crossed into that perhaps thinking that there was a clear lane of traffic heading in the right direction,’ he said.  

Daily Mail Australia contacted NSW Police to access the CCTV footage but a spokeswoman said they cannot release it yet as it is ‘still under investigation’. 

Police may struggle to piece together what exactly happened as the driver of the Mitsubishi Mirage, a woman in her 30s, died at the scene. 

Her two passengers suffered head injuries and were taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital via rescue helicopter.

Emergency teams had to free the driver of the BMW – a woman believed to be aged in her 40s – who was trapped in the car.

The carnage during peak hour brought the city to a standstill with massive queues of traffic stretching in both directions. 

Emergency teams had to free the driver of the BMW – a woman believed to be aged in her 40s – who was trapped in the car

The wrecked BMW (pictured), which had its roof completely torn off, was later taken away on a truck after police had finished investigating the crash scene 

The bridge was closed in both directions and motorists were encouraged to work from home. However, the iconic bridge has since reopened to traffic.

A witness, who had been on a bus heading into the city at the time, described the scene as ‘chaotic’ as footage showed dozens of rescuers trying to free the trapped motorist.

She said it looked as though the black BMW x4 had been ‘completely destroyed’.

‘I saw the whole roof of the black car had been sliced off, there were still people in the car, it looked they were trying to get them out,’ she told Daily Mail Australia

‘There was also a stretcher on the side of the road and there was a blanket over someone.’ 

Initial reports suggest speed may have been a factor in the crash.

Horrific scenes on Sydney Harbour Bridge as emergency crews swarm the road after a fatal crash on Thursday morning

A Mitsubishi Mirage travelling north and a BMW travelling south collided on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Thursday morning 

A woman is dead and another is trapped in her car after a head-on car crash on Sydney’s Harbour Bridge on Thursday (pictured: fire crews at the scene)

The crash caused massive delays during the morning commute with hundreds of cars backed-up along the bridge (pictured is a helicopter arriving at the scene)

Fire crews and paramedics surround a car involved in a fatal crash in Sydney on Thursday, a woman in her 40s is still trapped inside

NSW Police investigated the cause of the crash at the scene before reopening the bridge. 

The collision has caused massive delays during the morning commute with hundreds of cars backed-up along the bridge. 

Massive queues of traffic were seen before cars were diverted by police.

Fire fighters were forced to head to the scene on foot from The Rocks Fire Station because of the traffic chaos. 

The crash sparked chaos during the morning commute with hundreds of cars backed-up along the bridge

A helicopter was at the scene to assist with transporting patients to hospital, gridlock traffic caused issues for emergency teams

Motorists were asked to avoid the area and use the Sydney Harbour Tunnel instead, although the advice has now been changed since the bridge reopened. 

Secretary of the Police Association of NSW Pat Gooley urged drivers stuck in traffic to stop making U-turns.

‘What we do have is people doing U-turns, and we have emergency services trying to make their way on the other side of the road,’ he said.

‘People have to stop doing these U-turns, it’s too dangerous.’  

The head-on crash, which happened shortly before 7.30am on Thursday, caused commuter chaos with massive queues of traffic

All northbound lanes were closed and three out of five southbound lanes were also closed when the crash happened, authorities eventually shut the entire bridge but it has since reopened