Bad news, many sources are reporting that three people have died in an accident that caused an explosion in the Burnley Tunnel in Melbourne. Traffic around VPAC is very heavy as people are diverted.

Photo Caption: Major incident: Smoke is billowing from the Burnley Tunnel in Melbourne. (ABC News)

The Herald Sun is saying there could be more fatalities (update 3: police later confirmed 3 dead).

VicRoads has information on diversions and a warning that traffic is very heavy and the notice that:

Access to the Latest Traffic and Road Conditions information may be slow or unavailable due to the number of enquiries.

The VicRoads Traffic Viewer is currently alternating between runtime errors and being unreachable.

Update 2:

ABC are reporting that:

Police say there was a pile-up after a vehicle crashed into a broken-down truck, then burst into flames.

Police have said “We don’t even know what type of vehicle is involved in one occasion, it is so badly damaged” and “There are vehicles down there that are literally balls of metal“.

Update 3:

Police have confirmed 3 dead:

The names of the victims have not been released but police say they were a 51-year-old Essendon man who was driving a van, a 37-year-old man from Sandringham who died in his ute, and a 34-year-old man from Sunbury who was killed in his car.