Winter weather and slippery roads impede traffic in several regions of Germany. In Saxony, the A72 has to be temporarily closed. In Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, several people are injured in accidents.
Heavy snowfall temporarily brought traffic to a standstill on Autobahn 72 in south-west Saxony on Saturday. Several trucks remained on the completely snow-covered road between Zwickau-Ost and Hartenstein. A truck slid into the crash barrier, but was later able to continue driving.
The Technical Relief Organization helped with heavy vehicles to tow the stranded trucks free. The autobahn towards Leipzig was closed for around two and a half hours in the evening for the rescue work, the police said. Initially, no injuries were reported on the A72.
Winter weather with slippery roads has also led to accidents in other parts of Germany. In Bavaria, two cars collided due to heavy snowfall. Three people were injured on Saturday afternoon in Middle Franconia, two of them seriously, a police spokesman said.
A driver lost control of his car on a slippery country road near Lehrberg (Ansbach district) and collided with an oncoming car. The 22-year-old who caused the accident and his 23-year-old passenger suffered serious injuries. The 19-year-old driver of the second car suffered moderate injuries. Rescue workers took all three injured to a hospital after the accident.
In North Rhine-Westphalia, three accidents occurred within a few minutes on the same district road in the Rhein-Sieg district. Between Leuscheid and Rosbach, an icy layer had formed on the road on the K7 after a sudden sleet, the police said. As a result, three vehicles slipped and left the road in a left-hand bend. A 38-year-old woman suffered minor injuries in one of the accidents. In the other cases, property damage remained.
