Around one million euros in property damage, two burned-out articulated lorries and trucks are the result of a serious traffic accident on the A3. This is reported by the police headquarters in Lower Franconia. “Even for our accident-experienced colleagues in the traffic police, it was a really extraordinary accident,” said police chief Enrico Ball.
The 54-year-old driver of the semi-trailer truck drove on the autobahn towards Würzburg around 3 p.m. and, for reasons that have not yet been clarified, left his lane to the right and collided with a tow truck on the hard shoulder. At that time, employees of a towing company were preparing a truck for towing due to a technical defect. Immediately after the collision, a fire broke out on the truck and spread to the entire truck.
Serious accident on the A3 near Helmstadt: the highway was completely blocked for around three hours
According to the police, the two articulated lorries and the trucks of the towing company were already on fire when the alarmed fire brigades arrived. In particular, the loading with 23 tons of plastic granules made the extinguishing work more difficult and caused a deep black column of smoke, which was already visible from Kist around 15 kilometers away. An employee of the towing service, who was between the trucks at the time of the impact, suffered serious injuries, his colleague escaped with minor injuries. The rescue service took the men and the slightly injured person who caused the accident to a hospital after medical first aid.
The motorway had to be closed in both directions for around three hours for the duration of the extinguishing work, recovery of the accident vehicles and recording of the accident. At around 6:30 p.m., the autobahn in the direction of Frankfurt was reopened to traffic. The closure in the direction of Würzburg continued into the evening hours, as the salvage of the four burned-out vehicles proved to be very time-consuming.
In addition to the rescue service and the police, the fire brigades from Bad Mergentheim, Wertheim, Waldbrunn, Helmstadt and Marktheidenfeld were at the scene under the direction of the district fire chief.
Thumbnail: © Marcus Führer/dpa (symbolic photo)
