According to an official police report, the Christmas Eve accident occurred around 4pm and involved a 40-ton semi-trailer lorry that was driving on the ramp at the Kandel-Süd junction.
The driver had intended to join the A65 in the direction of Ludwigshafen, but it is assumed that as a result of an improper speed, he lost control of his vehicle as it navigated the left-hand bend. The truck then veered off to the right and broke through the guardrail before rolling over onto the bank by the side of the road. Fortunately, the driver escaped with minor injuries. The vehicle was carrying a load of onions with an estimated value of 100,000 euros.
As the cleanup operation proved to be complex, the Kandel Süd junction in the direction of Ludwigshafen had to remain fully closed until Christmas Day morning.
Elsewhere in Europe, there were two notable Christmas Day lorry fires.
Firstly, as many as 35 lorries caught fire at an industrial zone on outskirts of Mollem in Belgium. According to a business owner whose trucks are based at the site, millions of euros of damage were caused by the fire, which could have been a result of malicious intent. Nobody was hurt, but the damage to the businesses involved will be significant.
Meanwhile, in a situation that brought back awful memories of a fatal fire in March 1999, which caused 39 fatalities, a lorry caught fire while driving through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Fortunately, on this occasion, nobody was hurt whatsoever. The driver of the truck saw the flames from the fire quickly and parked on the hard shoulder. The emergency services were then quickly deployed to extinguish the fire.
Tragically, one lorry driver did lose his life on Christmas Day. As reported by Italian and Romanian media, a Romanian truck driver was involved in a horrific accident that saw his truck overturn into a motorway guard rail. The driver died on the spot, while his brother was rushed to hospital. It isn’t known what caused the accident.