Four young people die after car crashes into tree near Bad Sassendorf, Germany

The crash

Four young people died on the night of Monday, 9 November, when their Audi left a country road near Bad Sassendorf in North Rhine-Westphalia and hit a tree. According to police in Soest, the car was travelling from Ostinghausen toward Weslarn when it veered to the right shortly after entering the village, for reasons that remain unclear. Police put the crash at about 23:30, while Der Tagesspiegel placed it shortly before midnight. The occupants were trapped in the wreck, and an emergency doctor who happened to be at the scene found that all four were already dead.

The victims

The four people were aged between 16 and 19. The driver was an 18-year-old man from Unna, and one of the passengers was a 19-year-old from Attendorn. Two 16-year-old girls were also in the car, one from Unna and one from Attendorn. Police named Unna and Attendorn as the home towns, while Der Tagesspiegel also listed Dortmund. Tagesschau reported that the driver and the 19-year-old were in the car together with the two teenage girls, and that the younger passengers were in the back.

Speed under investigation

Police are still determining how the crash happened, but their first findings suggest that excessive speed may have played a part. The crash site lies inside a built-up area where the limit is 50 km/h. Because the car was completely destroyed and the engine block was pushed into the passenger compartment, police believe it was travelling much faster. A police spokesperson, quoted by Bild, said the car could certainly not have been going at 50 km/h. Tagesschau reported that the road outside the village has a 70 km/h limit and that a section a few metres further on is limited to 30 km/h.

Rescue and notification of relatives

Rescue workers were alerted to the scene, where the emergency call reached the emergency doctor shortly before 23:30. Police said resuscitation measures were started immediately, but none of the four could be saved. Around 40 firefighters and a large police contingent attended the scene. Axel Kipp of the Bad Sassendorf volunteer fire brigade told WDR that the emergency doctor had found all four occupants apparently dead. Police and emergency pastoral carers informed and looked after the families during the night.

Road history and next steps

Experts from the police arrived during the night to measure the crash site and record the evidence. The road between Soest and Lippstadt-Eickelborn was closed in the village of Weslarn for several hours. According to tagesschau, cars have repeatedly crashed into roadside trees on this stretch over the past decades, which is known as an accident route. Investigators are continuing their work to establish the exact cause and speed of the crash.