A 39-year-old Romanian lorry driver was found dead in the early hours of Sunday morning at a rest area on the A28 motorway in France’s Somme region. The Romanian was stabbed on more than one occasion. Tragically, the emergency services could not revive him given the severity of his injuries.
According to francebleu.fr, numerous police investigations are underway to identify the perpetrators and the facts surrounding the fatal attack.
In an official press release from the Amiens prosecutor’s office, some details regarding the horrific incident were made public yesterday:
“A road driver of Romanian nationality, aged 39, was killed on the night of Saturday to Sunday on the A28 in the Somme. From the first elements of the investigation, it appears that the victim was absent from the vehicle a few moments after hearing a noise. On his return, he was seriously injured. Despite the first aid provided by the SAMU [emergency services], he quickly succumbed [to his injuries].”
France Blue reports that the driver had picked up a load in England and was en route to Spain. It is said that man was fatally injured in the heart and back with a knife. His wife, also a truck driver, was with him in the vehicle. It was she who notified the emergency services.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the attacker was among a group of thieves attempting to break into the trucker’s trailer.
News of the horrific tragedy has understandably hit the Romanian trucking community particularly hard. Povești de prin parcări, a Romanian truck blogger with over 143,000 followers, was one of those who took social media to express his deep sadness and frustration not only regarding the death of his fellow countryman and trucker, but also the current climate that lorry drivers operate in.
In the post, which can be read in full here, the blogger claimed that the emergency services took around 90 minutes to arrive at the scene. He also stated that only a solitary van driver came to the aid of the stabbed trucker and his wife (please note these claims are not officially confirmed at the time of publication).
The blogger also commented on the current difficulties faced by truckers, something that many lorry drivers will no doubt resonate with:
“Unfortunately, this is the reality in parking areas. Regardless of the country – France, Germany or Spain, nobody gives a damn about the safety of truck drivers. Stealing occurs night after night – diesel, merchandise, cut tarpaulins and cabin thefts. Who is responsible for our safety? When you call them, they come after 2 or 3 hours, and that’s in case they come as they often don’t even bother to come, they fill out a report and that’s it.
Giving fines are the best but us? For us truck drivers, what do they do? What are the EU doing? Besides, you hear them complaining that the youth no longer choose this job. Well, what the hell should they choose it for? Wages are what they are like, you leave in a rush, stop in the evening and you don’t know if you can find merchandise or diesel in the tank or worse, risk not getting to the next day.
Paid parking? There are thefts from there too. Parking with cameras? There are thefts from there too. There are thefts from everywhere. I have a colleague who was asleep and they stole everything from his cabin, in a paid parking lot in France. And what do the police do? Oh yes, they have work to give tickets to trucks. The EU? Oh yes, they have work to do with mobility packages.
In Calais it’s the same story, immigrants climb over you, you risk dying on the highway because they throw objects at your windshield, block the streets and do what they want? Drivers die, and what do the authorities do? It’s sad that if the English find an immigrant in the trailer, you, as a driver, have to pay 4,000 quid per immigrant. And you can’t do anything about it, as a driver, you are sanctioned.
Every day this job gets more dangerous, more unattractive for young people and it’s a pity.”
Photo credit: Ecole polytechnique / Flickr