Updated
Rescue crews have freed a motorist who was crushed under a truck in a pile-up on the Princes Freeway in Melbourne's west.
Three trucks and two cars were involved in the crash that happened near Princes Freeway and Forsyth Road in Point Cook just before 9:00am.
The 54-year-old Footscray man was trapped beneath a truck for more than three hours as crews worked to free him.
It took dozens of emergency workers and two cranes to carefully lift the truck off the car before the man could be pulled from his vehicle.
He was flown to the Alfred Hospital with serious chest and internal injuries.
Police said the truck smashed in the back of the car, which had been moving slowly in traffic along the freeway.
MFB spokesman Phillip Taylor said the collision left the man "cocooned" inside his car, with truck's wheels over his head.
"The result of the impact was that the driver was trapped inside the car, but basically in a fairly contained space," he said.
Mark Amos from the police collision investigation unit said it was a "miracle" the man survived.
He said police were looking into reports the truck driver's brakes failed.
"We've got a mechanic coming to the scene and we'll have a look at that," he said.
The vehicle was unrecognisable when the truck was lifted off.
Kiara, who works in the area, said she had just arrived at work when she heard a loud bang.
"It sounded like metal being crushed," she said.
"It wasn't until [later] that I realised there was another set of wheels and there was a car under the truck."
She said it was not uncommon to see a crash on this stretch of the freeway.
"Not to this extent but nearly every week [there is a crash]," she said.
"It's just horrible."
The Princes Freeway has been reopened.
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