Three dead after 'traumatic' night of multiple crashes on Queensland roads

Three people have died in two separate crashes overnight north of Townsville in what authorities have labelled as a "traumatic night" for emergency crews.

The two crashes, one at 6.30pm and the other around 12am, occurred within two kilometres of each other along the Bruce Highway.

The first crash saw a head-on collision between a truck and a Mitsubishi Lancer near Barrett Road at Mutarnee.

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The 27-year-old Lancer driver died at the scene while the driver of the truck was rushed to Townsville Hospital with serious injuries.

The second crash saw multiple collisions between two 4WDs, a Mazda 3 and a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Sadly the 26-year-old driver of the Mazda 3 and the 23-year-old driver of the Lancer both died at the scene.

Several other people involved in the crash were also treated for varying injuries.

QAS Senior Operations Supervisor Wayne Paxton said the fatal collisions made for a very "traumatic night" and said these type of events affect staff "significantly".

"It was quite a traumatic event for those involved," Mr Paxton said.

"You're going to quite an acute job with fatalities involved and then you go to another one not long afterwards - we do have some of the officers that went to the first one that were at the second one."

The Bruce Highway north of Townsville was closed for most of this morning before being partially reopened around midday.

The Forensic Crash Unit is investigating both crashes.