Two-car crash in San Fili tunnel on SS 107 kills four, injures one seriously

The collision

Two cars collided inside a tunnel on the SS 107 Silana Crotonese, in the municipality of San Fili, in the province of Cosenza, on Saturday, 14 November. Fanpage places the crash near the Fiego tunnel and identifies the vehicles as an Opel Mokka and a Jaguar. Early reconstructions cited by the reports describe a head-on impact, which ANSA placed at the tunnel exit, where the road bends. ANSA also reported that it was raining in the area at the time. The reports say the investigators have yet to establish how the two vehicles came to collide.

Those who died and the injured

Four people died in the crash, a figure given consistently across the reports. Fanpage says the two drivers were among the dead: an 82-year-old woman at the wheel of the Opel and a man of about 50 driving the Jaguar. Three women were also travelling in the Jaguar, and two of them died, while the third, a 44-year-old woman, was seriously injured. Fanpage reports that three of the dead were killed on the spot and that the fourth died after medical staff intervened. Rai says one car carried four people and the other only its driver, which fits the five people Fanpage counts in total. The injured woman was airlifted to the Annunziata hospital in Cosenza, and il Giornale describes her condition as very serious. ANSA's first report also said three other people were taken to hospitals elsewhere in the area, a detail the later reports do not repeat.

Rescue and road closure

Firefighters, 118 medical staff, carabinieri and Anas crews were sent to the scene, according to the reports. Rai says the operations centre dispatched three 118 ambulances to give first aid and carry the injured to hospital. Fanpage reports that firefighters worked to pull people out of the vehicles while rescuers treated the wounded. The SS 107 was closed to traffic so that rescuers and police could carry out their work, and traffic heading toward Paola was diverted onto the old Crocetta pass road. Il Giornale reports that Anas crews were working to restore normal traffic conditions as quickly as possible.

Investigation

Investigators are reconstructing how the crash happened and who bears responsibility, as il Giornale reports. Fanpage notes that the inquiry must establish why the two cars ended up colliding in the tunnel area. The articles were published on Saturday afternoon, and none of them gives an update on the condition of the injured woman after she reached hospital. The reports also do not name any of the people involved in the crash.