Four injured after public bus, station wagon collide on narrow Groningen road
At least four people were injured in a traffic accident involving a public bus and a passenger car on Sunday evening. The collision happened on a narrow stretch between Smeerling and Onstwedde on the N365, a provincial road in Groningen, police said. The air temperature was about -2 degrees Celsius at the time of the accident.
The driver of the station wagon lost control of his car and crashed into the bus, according to RTV Noord. The badly damaged car then appeared to have struck a tree along the shoulder of the roadway. The front end of the bus also took on a significant amount of damage.
Police, paramedics and firefighters raced to the scene just after 8 p.m. Two trauma teams were also sent by separate helicopters to the accident site.
The injured people came from both the car and the bus, but it was immediately clear how many of the victims were on each vehicle. Large screens were set up around the area so medical care could be given to the victims in private. The condition of the victims was not revealed.
The N365 is a narrow road shared by traffic travelling both northwest and southeast. The temperature close to the ground was -2 degrees Celsius at the time of the accident, according to data from an automated weather station 30 kilometers further north.
The cause of the accident remained under investigation on Monday. The Groningen town of Onstwedde is 15 kilometers west of the German border, and is close to both Stadskanaal and Ter Apel.
