Man died on A3 near Bad Honnef Lorry driver who fled scene of fatal accident caught
BAD HONNEF · After a fatal accident on the A3 near Bad Honnef early on Monday evening, the motorway was completely closed until Tuesday morning. The man suspected of causing the accident fled the scene but was later found.
A 25-year-old man was fatally injured in a serious car accident on the A3 near the Bad Honnef/Linz exit early on Monday evening. Four lorries collided there at around 5.40pm. The motorway was completely closed and only opened again to traffic on Tuesday morning.
The man suspected of causing the accident fled from the scene in his lorry. A man was found during the night following a search. The police told the GA on Tuesday lunchtime he was the lorry driver who fled. Police are not giving any further details at the moment.
Police said the cause of the accident was a manoeuvre by a lorry driver who pulled sharply to the right from the overtaking lane to take a motorway exit. This led to a 57-year-old lorry driver having to break sharply. This resulted in a 55-year-old, then a 56-year-old and finally a 25-year-old driving their lorries into each other. The 25-year-old was so tightly jammed into his truck that he died at the accident scene. His female co-driver was taken to hospital with slight injuries, as were two drivers from the lorries in front.
Difficult rescue
Only the driver in the first lorry was uninjured and able to continue his journey in his lorry, Andreas Geller, a service group leader from the Bensberg motorway police, said at the scene. The lorry that drove into him and the 25-year-old’s vehicle had to be towed. The fourth lorry was also severely damaged, but could be driven from the motorway to a car park.
When the fire brigade arrived, they first had to move the front three lorries forwards to reach the trapped person. To do this, the lorries were winched with a cable, explained Marc Neunkirchen, deputy press officer for the Königswinter fire brigade. The firemen were supported by a towing company from the region. The load from the rear lorry, chilled sides of pork, had also spread over the motorway and made access to the driver’s cabin more difficult. When the 25-year-old was finally reached through the driver’s cabin, it was confirmed he had died.
Problems with rescue lane
A long queue formed on the A3 immediately after the accident. Rescue service and fire brigade vehicles had difficulty getting to the accident scene. “There were serious problems getting there,” said Neunkirchen. Due to the traffic jam, many lorry drivers had parked their vehicles in the middle lane making it difficult for some of the large rescue vehicles to get through.
Around 50 personnel from Ittenbach, Uthweiler and Oelberg fire brigades were at the accident scene. They were supplied by DRK Bad Honnef. A rescue helicopter from the THW was also in use. Traffic was diverted over a wide area.
(Original text: ga.de. Translation: kc)
