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15km traffic jam after fatal peak-hour accident

The scene at the fatal accident on Sydney's M4 on Thursday morning.

The scene at the fatal accident on Sydney's M4 on Thursday morning. Photo: Twitter/Steve Hart

A man died and traffic banked up for at least 15 kilometres following a crash involving 10 cars and a beer truck on a major motorway in Sydney’s west during Thursday morning’s peak.

The collision happened on the M4 at the Church Street off-ramp in Mays Hill near Parramatta just before 6am.

Paramedics treated multiple patients at the accident scene. They included a 36-year-old Wentworthville man, who could not be revived after a truck laden with beer kegs smashed into his ute.

All city-bound lanes on the M4 and surrounding roads were closed following the crash, leading to a 15-kilometre-long peak hour traffic jam. The closures also took in the Cumberland Highway, Great Western Highway and Burnett Street.

Roads were re-opened by 11am.

“It was an extremely distressing scene for all emergency services on arrival,” NSW Ambulance’s Andrew Wood told 2GB radio.

“There was debris and the accident was actually spread out over approximately 200 metres.”

NSW Police also say only 10 of the 11 vehicles involved in the crash stopped.

“We want to speak with this driver to find what they know about the events leading up to the crash,” Inspector Katie Orr said.

“We also want to speak with any drivers who may have witnessed the crash and left the area or have relevant dash-cam footage.”

Investigators aren’t suggesting the missing driver caused the crash but hope they can provide additional information.

Earlier, David Wright from the Transport Management Centre told the ABC it was the “worst possible scenario” for morning peak traffic on the M4, one of the biggest arteries leading into Sydney from the west.

Thursday was the second day of traffic chaos in Sydney. There were also long delays during Wednesday morning’s peak after a truck rolled after colliding with a heavy vehicle on the M4 at Greystanes.

Traffic was banked up for about nine kilometres after that crash, which closed two lanes on the motorway after 6am.

Thursday’s fatality also follows the death of a 20-year-old man in a crash in NSW’s central west on Wednesday afternoon.

Police believe the ute he was travelling in left the road at Forbes and hit a tree, killing him and leaving the 24-year-old driver fighting for life.

The driver is in Sydney’s Westmead Hospital in a critical condition.

-with AAP

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