Authorities and emergency responders were dispatched to the D’Aguilar Highway near Nukku in the South Burnett area, approximately 174km away from Brisbane, around 5:50am after receiving reports of a collision involving two large trucks.

The driver of the fuel tanker, a man aged in his 50s, was critically injured and died at the scene.

A man in his 30s, the driver of the rigid transport truck, was critically hurt and also died at the scene.

The deadly crash has prompted a major emergency response on the busy highway.

A Public Safety Preservation Act (PSPA) was declared at 6.15am with a one-kilometre exclusion zone boundary in place.

A fire broke out following the collision and firefighters took two hours to extinguish the blaze.

It is expected that the area of the highway where the crash took place will be blocked off for traffic for the majority of the day.

The highway is closed in both directions and traffic is being detoured.

Officers from the Toowoomba Forensic Crash Unit (FCU) are investigating the incident.

Anyone with dashcam footage is urged to contact police.