In pics | Swedish motorway collapses after landslide, three injured

At least three people were injured after a large chunk of a motorway in southwest Sweden collapsed overnight, said the police and emergency services, on Saturday (September 23).

The landslide affected around ten vehicles, a wooded area, a business area with a gas station and a fast food restaurant, said the Swedish rescue services.

The landslide tore apart a stretch of motorway between Sweden's second-biggest city Gothenburg and Norway's capital Oslo, near the small town of Stenungsund which is also some 50 kilometres away from Sweden's west coast. 

According to the Gothenburg Rescue Services, the worst-hit area covers around 100 metres by 150 metres but the landslide affected an area of around 700 metres by 200 metres in total. 

The landslide reportedly struck shortly before 2:00 am (local time). 

(Photo: @baekdal/X)

The Gothenburg Rescue Services also said that the slide affected around ten vehicles, a wooded area, a business area with a gas station and a fast food restaurant.

It added, "A number of people have been helped out of vehicles in the slide area with the help of fire personnel and a helicopter."

The Swedish news agency TT reported that several cars and one truck had fallen into holes and cracks caused by the landslide.

The rescue services spokesperson told public broadcaster SVT that all people in the vehicles had been helped out.

Meanwhile, a police spokesperson, as per AFP, said that three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the collapse in Stenungsund. 

Uladzislau Miklash, a lorry driver, was asleep in his parked vehicle when he felt it start to slide, recalling the ordeal he told P4 Vast radio, "I had no idea what was happening."

The emergency series in the area also said specially trained staff and search dogs would now search the area and that they could not rule out the risk of further landslides.

The incident has also prompted officials to close the section of the E6 motorway for several weeks.

The local police on their website said that they have launched a probe into "aggravated public destruction" to determine whether work at a nearby construction site may have caused the slide and will question the staff at the construction site. 

"It's still unclear if there is any connection to blasting/work at the site and the landslide," said the police, adding, "No person is currently suspected of a crime."