Emergency services crews attended the incident near the Majastic Motel about 5pm.

Country Fire Authority district 17 operations officer Alfred Mason said a truck was travelling in the left Melbourne-bound lane when its main axle snapped, puncturing a diesel tank.

“The truck wasn’t loaded – it was an empty semi-trailer with two tanks full of diesel with the capacity to carry 200-odd litres,” he said.

“Until fire crews attended we were not able to close the road, because if we had done that the fire trucks would have been stuck on the other side of the Wimmera River bridge.

“So there was a fair bit of traffic that snuck through early, and we were able to close one lane.

“Then once crews got across the bridge, we were able to stop traffic and divert it.”

Mr Mason said some of the diesel was swept off the road due to rain at the time.

“However at the scene most of the diesel did not go down the drain, which was a good result,” he said.

“Horsham Rural City Council was there to investigate that, and they also spread sand on the road.”

The road re-opened about 7.30pm, with a reduced speed limit of 40km/h in place overnight.