As the police in Nordhausen announced, with reference to the first investigation results, a 45-year-old had got into oncoming traffic with his car and collided with two oncoming vehicles. In the case of the man who survived the collision with serious injuries, “consumption of alcohol cannot be ruled out”. Therefore, the taking of a blood sample was ordered, the officials said. He was also “not in possession of a driver’s license”.
The two oncoming cars hit by the man’s vehicle were badly damaged and burst into flames. Three young men and two young women aged 19 died in one of them, and a 60-year-old died in the other. According to the police, his 73-year-old passenger was able to escape from the burning vehicle with serious injuries.
There was also one dead in the car of the alleged culprit, which was occupied by three occupants. A 44-year-old died, another passenger aged 34 was seriously injured and also taken to the hospital.
Rescuers and investigators were confronted with terrible images at the scene of the accident. A police spokeswoman compared the scene to the AFP news agency on Sunday with a “battlefield”. Some of the bodies of the dead accident victims were burned beyond recognition, which also made identification difficult.
Pictures from the accident site in the Unstrut-Hainich district showed the wreckage of the three accident cars, which were completely destroyed in the front area, thrown across the entire street. The vehicle in which the five young people died hung burned out at an angle on a crash barrier. The second oncoming vehicle was dead in the middle of the road. The car that caused the accident, which was not caught in the flames, lay overturned on its side, debris and fire residues were scattered throughout the area.
The Thuringian state government reacted with great dismay. “I mourn the dead and feel for the relatives. So much life wiped out in seconds. It remains stunned,” Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) wrote on Twitter at a time when information about possible alcohol consumption by the alleged culprit was not yet known . Thuringia’s Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) was also “shaken” by the tragic events on Twitter.
The pictures from the scene of the accident would “have a long-lasting effect,” added Maier. His thoughts are with the injured and relatives of the dead as well as with the emergency services. It was a difficult mission for them. Crisis intervention teams would help them process what they had experienced.
According to the police, psychologically trained pastors were already on duty on Saturday evening, among other things, when delivering the news of the death. In addition, the specialists would continue to be available for the rescue workers and police officers deployed in the accident in the coming days, the officials in Nordhausen said.
At the same time, the investigators asked witnesses for information about what was happening on the federal highway before the collision, in particular with regard to overtaking maneuvers and other conspicuous driving actions by the suspected driver of the accident in his BMW.
The federal highway 247 was therefore still closed on Sunday. It was unclear when it could reopen. According to the police, it was first necessary to check whether the fire had damaged the surface.
bro/pw
