Sittard family killed in crash with wrong-way driver
Three Dutch people were killed in a serious accident with a wrong-way driver on the A67 near Rüsselsheim, Germany on Saturday night. The victims are a family from Sittard, the Limburg police confirmed to newspaper AD.
The victims are a 53-year-old father, a 51-year-old mother and their 20-year-old daughter, according to the newspaper. They were on holiday when the accident happened, the authorities believe. "Officers in Sittard had a bad news conversation with the relatives", a spokesperson for the Limburg police said to AD. "We also informed the mayor of the municipality Sittard-Geleen."
The accident was caused by a 34-year-old Polish truck driver, who turned his truck around on the A67 around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday. The local authorities believe he did so to avoid a traffic jam. After driving in the wrong direction on the highway for around 3 kilometers, the truck crashed into a BMW with German license plates, and a Skoda with Dutch plates. The three Dutch died at the scene. The four women in the BMW sustained minor injuries. The Polish trucker was seriously injured and is in critical condition.
"Occasionally drivers will reverse with their hazards on in the emergency lane if their is a traffic jam", a police spokesperson said to German media. "But I've never seen anything like this." According to the spokesperson, the police believe the Polish driver knew what he was doing when he turned his truck around on the highway. The police are also investigating whether he was under the influence.
