Emergencies
Tüv Süd: Carnival car properly tested
A carnival float caught fire in Kehl, Baden-Württemberg. photo
© Marco Dürr/Einsatzreport24/dpa
After the accident at a carnival parade in Kehl, the question of safety arises. According to the organizer and Tüv Süd, the car was checked beforehand.
According to a corresponding leaflet, the required tests by experts cover, among other things, braking equipment and safety precautions for passenger transport. According to Joachim Bühler from the Tüv Association, vehicles that take part in traditional events such as shooting, carnival or carnival parades receive an annual or – if the vehicle has not been modified – a biennial operating license. According to him, the test is on the base vehicle (without load) and its road safety, including the safety of the vehicle in relation to the people who are riding, standing next to it or walking along.
Lack of clarity about responsibilities
According to Tüv, the local authorities finally issue the operating license for the moving vans. However, neither the Ortenaukreis nor the city of Kehl felt responsible for this on Monday.
The Kehler Fastnacht support association emphasized that the organizers would also check the floats before the parade to ensure that no people could get caught under the vehicles. According to its own information, the support association is the main organizer of the parade. Chairman Stefan Kaiser called the momentous incident an “isolated accident”. According to the support association, more than 100 stewards were deployed for security purposes.
Deflagration of an aggregate as the cause of fire
On Sunday, the car belonging to a group of fools from the Black Forest town of Glottertal caught fire. The police initially said the cause of the fire was the deflagration of an engine on the trailer. However, numerous questions remain unanswered. Among other things, it is unclear whether the generator in question was actually in operation or whether other electrical devices were being used, the police said. However, there is no evidence of intent. An expert should help find the cause of the fire. The burned-out trailer was recovered.
The group of fools from Glottertal were dismayed. “This is of course a huge shock for us. We are doing well under the circumstances,” said Florian Steger from the Glottertäler Winzerbube on Sunday to the radio station “Hitradio Ohr”.
Praise for the calm behavior of the participants
The Mayor of Kehlen, Wolfram Britz, praised the behavior of the participants after the accident. “The members of the group of fools reacted very prudently and thus probably prevented something even worse,” said the non-party local politician to the German Press Agency. “The news of this tragic incident spread quickly along the parade route. Of course, we stopped the parade immediately.” There were tens of thousands of people on the streets. Around 37,000 people live in the border town, and the eastern French metropolis of Strasbourg is on the other side of the Rhine.
Early on Sunday afternoon, dramatic scenes took place in the center of Kehler: in the middle of the crazy hustle and bustle, an explosion was heard. To save themselves from the flames, several people who were on the trailer of the moving truck jumped onto the street. According to the city, the fire broke out in the interior of the car, which represented a ship.
Memories of 2018
It is not the first serious incident at a carnival parade in Germany. In 2018, an 18-year-old was held over a cauldron of hot water by a group of disguised witches during a carnival parade in Eppingen. The young woman scalded her legs. The cauldron was on a group pull wagon and was heated by a wood stove.
In 2017, a 26-year-old was used to protect a tractor during a carnival parade in Hambrücken near Karlsruhe. However, the young woman stumbled, was run over by the vehicle and sustained life-threatening injuries. Also in 2017, a then 21-year-old fell from a carnival float in Markt Indersdorf, Upper Bavaria, during a parade. He fell headfirst to the ground from a height of four meters and was critically injured.