Four people died in accidents in quick succession on the A3 near Emmerich on the Lower Rhine – including a first responder.
According to the first findings of the police, a car with two occupants initially skidded on a rain-soaked road on Sunday morning for an clarified cause. It went off the road and landed in a ditch. According to the police, the 42-year-old driver and his 37-year-old passenger were able to free themselves from the accident car.
The 39-year-old driver of a car that was also driving in the direction of Cologne stopped to help the occupants, said a spokesman for the Düsseldorf motorway police. When the occupants of the accident car and the first responders were on the hard shoulder, all three were hit by an approaching car.
Its 56-year-old driver lost control of his vehicle at the same point. After it left the road and caught the three people, it collided with a crash barrier, it said.
Cause of accident still unknown
Both the driver of the third car and the three other people suffered fatal injuries. They are said to be Dutch. The passenger in the third car suffered minor injuries. All three cars had Dutch registrations. It may have been a group.
The cause of the accident must now be clarified in the course of the investigation – heavy rain could have played a role, the police said. There is no evidence of an illegal car race, said the police spokesman. According to the police, rescue helicopters, emergency doctors and ambulances were deployed. The motorway section in the direction of Cologne was closed. The clean-up work was still going on there in the late afternoon.
