'Hero' Gold Coast tradie saves crane driver from river

A Queensland tradesman has been praised after he jumped into the Coomera River to rescue a stranded crane driver.

Brett Marr was travelling on the M1 with the heavy machinery when it crashed through a guard rail and plunged into the water below.

A witness told 9NEWS a tyre blew out, causing the truck to jack-knife and drive into the river.

Mr Marr managed to crawl out of the cabin before being rescued from the top of the submerged vehicle by Sam Manning, who had jumped in to save him.

"I sort of went around to see if anything was in the river," the Upper Coomera tradie said.

"I could tell someone had gone over and ... saw the guy out there and swam out and grabbed him."

The accident sparked traffic gridlock, with part of the motorway shut for hours while repairs were made.

A retrieval operation was launched, authorities aware of the risk of pollution, with roughly 300 litres of diesel in the truck's tanks.