Hamm (dpa / lnw) - When a small truck crashed into a car on the A2 near Hamm on Tuesday, five people were injured, two of them seriously. The 39-year-old driver of the car had to be freed from the car on Tuesday afternoon with serious injuries, the police said in the evening. He, his 34-year-old passenger, who was also seriously injured, as well as a 24-year-old woman, a three-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, who were also in the car when the accident happened, were all taken to nearby hospitals.

A 26-year-old was previously driving a small truck in the right lane towards Oberhausen. According to the information, he got into the middle lane between the Beckum and Hamm-Uentrop junctions. There he drove against the small truck of the 39-year-old. Investigators suspect that a technical defect caused the accident. The lane in the direction of Oberhausen has now been completely closed.