Yesterday was another grim day on the D1, as five cars and one truck transporting palm oil collided on the motorway around 50km from Prague, leaving one dead and 11 injured. Photos: Fire Department of Central Bohemian Region – HZS Středočeského kraje.
Brno / Czech Rep. Oct 14 (BD) – The D1 motorway remained closed to traffic for over 14 hours following Sunday’s tragic accident, which happened in the Benešov region on the road towards Brno.
Five passenger cars collided with a tanker on the 49th kilometre of the highway (coming from Prague), which rolled over both lanes and caught alight. The asphalt on the highway is damaged after the fire, making it more difficult to restore the flow of traffic. “In the morning, we managed to get the tanker on wheels, now it needs to be towed, along with several other cars,” said a spokeswoman at 7:30am today.
One lane in the direction of Brno opened at around 10am this morning, said Benesov police spokeswoman Eva Stulikova, as quoted by the Czech Press Agency CTK. The second lane should be open this afternoon or early evening.
One police officer was also seriously injured because of the accident, while diverting traffic at the 34th kilometer. He was hit by a car, pushing him away from the police car. “With multiple serious injuries, and after the necessary treatment on the spot, a helicopter transported him to a hospital in Prague’s Střešovice,” said Petra Effenbergerová, spokeswoman for the Central Bohemian Emergency Medical Services, according to CTK.
The accident occurred at around 7:30pm on Sunday, when the tanker overturned across both lines of the motorway and set ablaze. One person died in the fire, with two more sustaining serious burns. Eight others received minor injuries, and four cars were burnt out.
The firefighters got the fire under control about an hour later, and prevented any further leaking of oil from the tanker. Unfortunately the injuries did not stop there; as reported by the police and as seen in the video below, one police officer became the 11th injured when a Mercedes crashed into his car while he was diverting traffic from the previous accident. “A policeman was struck by a car while enforcing detour routes and diversions. He was transported to the hospital with serious injuries,” announced Police CR on their Twitter account yesterday at around 8pm.
Video: HZS Středočeského kraje / YouTube
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