Three German army trucks collide on A4 near Kostomłoty, three people injured

What happened

Shortly after 12:00 on Wednesday, 4 November, three German army trucks collided on the A4 motorway at kilometre 124, just before the Kostomłoty junction, on the carriageway toward Wrocław. The vehicles struck one another in succession. Super Express established that one truck hit the rear of another, and the driver of the third could not brake in time. Fire crews, ambulance crews and the Military Gendarmerie attended the scene.

Injuries and cause

Police in Środa Śląska said three people were hurt and taken to hospital. RMF FM reported that the injured were the drivers of the military vehicles and that all of them were conscious. Super Express reported, unofficially, that all three injured were German soldiers and that their lives were not in danger. Police established that all drivers were sober and that six people travelled in the three vehicles in total. Police gave the preliminary cause as a failure to keep a safe distance between the vehicles, which led to one truck driving into the back of another. Investigators are still working out the exact circumstances of the collision.

Traffic and the vehicles

The collision blocked the right lane toward Wrocław. RMF FM said that carriageway had reopened to traffic in a single lane and put the queue at 10 km. Super Express, citing local media, later put the tailback at about eight kilometres, with the right lane still blocked. Queues also formed on the carriageway toward Legnica, as drivers slowed to see what had happened. According to RMF FM, the army was transporting 150 litres of diesel, and the fire service said the barrel had not leaked. Firefighters from Kąty Wrocławskie and Środa Śląska, together with volunteers from Kostomłoty and Jaroslaw, worked at the scene. The Military Gendarmerie will remove the vehicles.