Germany: At least seven killed, 16 injured after suspected migrant-smuggling car crash

At least seven people were killed and over a dozen people were injured after a van purportedly carrying migrants overturned in the southern German state of Bavaria, on Friday (Oct 13). The van was said to be packed with migrants when it crashed at a highway junction after the driver allegedly accelerated to avoid a police check, said the local officials.

What do we know about the incident?

According to the German police, a police patrol noticed the overloaded vehicle on the A94 highway east of Munich at about 3:15 am (local time) and tried to stop it, however, the driver did not slow down and accelerated to 180 kmph.

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Subsequently, the driver lost control of the van – which had Austrian licence plates – when took the turn to get off the highway and the van overturned, hurling several of the 23 people out of the vehicle, said the police.

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“The driver and suspected people smuggler survived and is among those injured,” said the police spokesperson Stefan Sonntag.

The van was designed to carry nine people and it would not have been possible for many of the people on board the vehicle to use seat belts, according to German news agency dpa.

Around 60 firefighters, some 90 rescue workers, 12 emergency doctors and two crisis intervention teams were deployed at the site of the crash in what police called a “very stressful operation.”

In 2023, Germany witnessed a 74 per cent rise in the number of migrants applying for asylum in the country and registered 14,701 illegal border crossings, in August.

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About the victims

Seven people, including a six-year-old child, were killed, said the German police in a statement. It added that at least 16 others were injured, some of them seriously were taken to nearby hospitals for their treatment.

A report by the Associated Press citing the local police said that the people on board were Syrian and Turkish citizens.

The driver and suspected smuggler were identified as a 24-year-old stateless man resident in Austria, both have been formally detained at a hospital and are under investigation on suspicion of homicide among other offences.

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The highway on which the accident occurred is also known as a smuggling route and is about 50 kilometres from the border between Austria and Germany, where many migrants transit en route to Germany. The van, as per German media reports, was travelling towards Munich.

“The inhuman behavior of the smuggler, who was injured in the accident and wanted to evade being stopped by the federal police just to save his own skin, makes one speechless,” Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, told dpa.

(With inputs from agencies)

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