Mourning and horror in Triftern in the Lower Bavarian district of Rottal-Inn: A young man from the small town died in a serious bus accident in Austria at the weekend during his own bachelor party. “Everyone is initially speechless and affected,” said Mayor Edith Lirsch on Monday. “You try to realize that first.” Some only found out about the accident on Monday. The cause of the accident is not yet known.
The groom was popular in the town of 5,300 people. He was involved with the local fire brigade and always lent a hand when something needed to be done. At the volunteer fire department, colleagues were shocked by the death of their comrade, said district fire inspector Maximilian Kirschner. According to reports, the wedding was planned for this year. The affected families supported each other, it said.
The 31-year-old man went on a tobogganing trip with friends to Schladming in Austria on the occasion of his bachelor party. According to the Red Cross, the 51-year-old driver was also particularly seriously injured in the accident late on Saturday evening, four other occupants were seriously injured and 26 were slightly injured.
A total of 32 men from Lower Bavaria were on board. According to the mayor, almost a dozen of them belonged to the group around the dead man. Some of them were also slightly to seriously injured and some had to be treated in hospital. They would have wanted to do everything right and booked the bus ride to avoid having to use private cars.
The investigations into the deadly bus accident in Austria have not yet provided any reliable information about the cause of the accident. A spokesman for the police in Styria said on Monday the German Press Agency. Although members of the Lower Bavarian group were questioned, the seriously injured driver could not yet make any statements. “The bus driver is still in critical condition and in artificial deep sleep,” said the spokesman. In addition, the technical examination of the wreck is still pending.
In the same bend where the bus fell over a slope onto a building complex with a forge and holiday apartments, there had already been a serious accident in 2017. According to local fire chief Gerald Petter, a timber truck crashed into the building at the time. Otherwise there had been no accidents there. “It’s usually not a dangerous place,” he told dpa. On Saturday, the road was neither wet nor slippery, it only started to snow after the accident.