Dismayed reactions
After truck accident in Passau: nine-year-old boy still in hospital
It was a terrible truck accident that killed a 37-year-old mother and her daughter. Now the nine-year-old remains in hospital for treatment, as do two other injured people. The sadness and consternation in Passau is great.
© Zema Media / DPA
A boy loses his mother and sister in a tragic truck accident in Passau. The nine-year-old is still in hospital receiving treatment.
Truck drives into crowd – police assume accident
The truck driver probably wanted to avoid a bus in downtown Passau – and drove onto a sidewalk. There the vehicle drives into a crowd of people. Five people were injured, two of them died. The 37-year-old woman died at the scene of the accident and her daughter succumbed to her injuries in the clinic. The The injured nine-year-old’s health is said to be unchanged. On Friday afternoon, a police spokeswoman said that danger to life could not currently be ruled out. The 70-year-old, who is also in the clinic for treatment, was seriously injured, the 45-year-old was slightly injured.
The 63-year-old truck driver is now in custody after receiving medical treatment police. The man drove his truck off the road on Bahnhofstrasse in downtown Passau around 9:50 a.m. on Friday morning and hit a group of people on the footpath before coming to a stop against a wall. “We are firmly assuming a traffic accident,” said a police spokesman after the incident – thus countering speculation on social networks about an alleged terrorist attack.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann also confirmed this: “So far there is no evidence of an assassination attempt or a politically motivated background.” In particular, it will be checked whether it was a driving error or a technical problem with the truck. The CSU politician expressed his condolences to the relatives.
The exact course of the accident and the reason for leaving the road are now the subject of the investigation. The public prosecutor’s office and an expert were called in. A police spokeswoman was initially unable to answer whether alcohol or drugs were involved.
Dismayed reactions after truck accident in Passau
The scene of the accident was cordoned off on Friday morning, and numerous police officers, firefighters, crisis intervention teams and emergency services employees were on site. Several rescue helicopters landed at the Schanzlbrücke, a multi-lane bridge in Passau, to fly the injured to clinics. A police helicopter was used to take general photos of the accident. The accident happened around 9:50 a.m., around four and a half hours later, around 2:20 p.m., the police lifted the traffic closures again.
Passau’s mayor Jürgen Dupper (SPD) was “deeply affected and shocked.” “In events like this, our entire sympathy goes out to the people affected and their relatives,” wrote the SPD politician. “This accident means the worst possible end to the year 2023 .”
Sources: Lower Bavaria Police HeadquartersDPA news agency