12-year-old girl dies after wrong-way crash on Germany's A45 that killed her mother and another driver

The crash

A 34-year-old woman from Obernburg in Bavaria drove onto the A45 motorway in the wrong direction at the Florstadt junction in the early hours of Sunday. Shortly afterwards, her vehicle collided head-on at high speed with a car driven by a 70-year-old man. Both drivers died at the scene. The woman's husband, aged 39, and their three children, aged between 10 and 15, were critically injured. All occupants were trapped in their vehicles and had to be freed by emergency services. Several of the injured were airlifted to hospitals by rescue helicopter.

Third fatality

On Tuesday evening, the 12-year-old daughter succumbed to her injuries, the Mittelhessen police headquarters confirmed. She was one of the three children who had been fighting for their lives since the collision. The father and the two other children remain in critical condition, according to police.

Investigation underway

The public prosecutor's office has commissioned an expert to reconstruct the exact sequence of events leading to the crash. Police have not yet released details on why the woman entered the motorway against the flow of traffic.

The victims

The family was from Obernburg, located in the Miltenberg district of Lower Franconia, Bavaria. The 70-year-old man who died has not been publicly identified beyond his age. The surviving husband is 39 years old; the two surviving children are between 10 and 15 years old.