• Germany edition
Photo: DPA

Truckers ram blood donor van injuring six

Published: 3 Nov 09 08:05 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091103-22987.html

Six people were injured on Monday night in a dramatic accident involving a semi-truck from Lithuania and a blood donor van from the German Red Cross on the A5 motorway near Gießen in Hesse.

According to the police, the van from Frankfurt was driving in the right lane when it was rammed from behind while being overtaken by the 40-tonne truck. The Red Cross vehicle, carrying three men and one woman, was knocked over before the truck also lost control and flipped over across the motorway.

All four people riding in the blood donor van and the two truckers from Lithuania suffered serious injuries. Four others were injured slightly in a separate accidents caused by the first one.

The police believe the two men from Lithuania, aged 58 and 61, were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.

The stretch of the A5 was closed for several hours overnight before reopening around 6 am on Tuesday.

DDP/DPA/The Local (news@thelocal.de)

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Your comments about this article:

13:12 November 3, 2009 by JDee
Are traffic accidents really 'newsworthy'?

YES, I would be far better if they reported the average of 10,000 persons a year killed ( in Germany ) and many more seriously injured. Then there might be some commons sense applied.
04:05 November 4, 2009 by slobo
"Truckers ram blood doner van". Were both of these Lithuanians driving at the same time, or in tandem?
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