According to police information, at least seven people were killed in an accident involving a smuggling vehicle. A six-year-old child is among the dead. 16 other occupants of the car were injured, some seriously. The accident occurred early Friday morning on the A94 near Ampfing. The driver was arrested.
More than 20 refugees in the vehicle – including children
The Mercedes Vito was traveling towards Munich and was noticed by a federal police patrol shortly after three o’clock. When the driver realized that he was being pursued by the police, he did not respond to attempts to stop and instead accelerated his car to around 180 kilometers per hour, according to the police.
Shortly afterwards, he left the motorway at the Ampfing/Waldkraiburg exit “at far too high a speed” and lost control of his vehicle in a curve. Several occupants were thrown from the car. The officials spoke of a “very stressful operation”. Pictures from the accident site showed the badly damaged wreck lying on the roof in a field of rubble.
The car was hopelessly overcrowded
A total of 23 people were squeezed into the car, which is approved for a maximum of nine people. According to police, many of the occupants were not wearing seatbelts. The refugees come from Syria and Turkey; further details about their identities are not yet known. According to police, the alleged smuggler, who survived the accident injured, is being investigated for homicide. According to the dpa, he is a stateless man from Austria.
Numerous helpers from emergency services and the fire department were on site. The injured were taken to surrounding hospitals and the motorway towards Munich was completely closed. The road was also temporarily closed in the direction of Passau.
The district administrator had warned of the risk of accidents
Michael Fahmüller (CSU), district administrator in the Rottal-Inn district, had already warned at the end of September in an open letter to Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) about the dangers of increasingly frequent pursuits in his district, which borders Austria. Fahmüller told BR today: “Unfortunately, this tragic accident shows that the danger that I have been warning about for weeks is omnipresent.”
According to Fahmüller, checks are only carried out at one border crossing in the Rottal-Inn district and only on a random basis. The district administrator therefore once again reiterated his call for the federal government to stop smugglers at the border. “These criminals are putting emergency services, citizens and immigrants in great danger to their lives. This cannot continue.”