The fire, which broke out at the Pratteln “Autogrill” rest stop shortly after 9pm on Friday evening, completely burned out two trucks according to an official statement from the Basel-Landschaft police department.
The two trucks had already become engulfed in flames by the time the local fire brigade arrived. However, the firefighters were able to quickly contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to other vehicles.
Local media reports have also credited a 42-year-old North Macedonian driver who used his lorry’s fire extinguisher to stop more vehicles being burned out. The driver is quoted as saying the speed at which fire spread was like lightning. Another driver who witnessed the blaze said the trucker whose vehicle first caught fire looked severely shaken as he was taken away in an Ambulance.
Photo: Polizei Basel-Landschaft
The blaze spawned flames several-metres high and understandably created a lot of smoke. One person had to be treated by paramedics due to smoke inhalation. The fire was eventually put out around an hour after it began.
Police said late on Friday that the cause of the fire was not clear. Officers also urged witnesses to come forward.
Litvanci pili i jeli zajedno, sa akcentom na pili, potukli se i izvrnuli plinsku bocu. Bilans: šest kamiona izgorilo na benzinskoj pumpi kod Bazela. Sad mi kolega poslao snimak. pic.twitter.com/Fk26fKchiV
— Bio Sam Zmijanac (@udo_brinkman) August 19, 2022
Not long after the fire, rumours from social media users nonetheless speculated that the blaze had been caused by an accident a group of intoxicated lorry drivers had had with a gas canister. The Twitter post above is one example of this.
Although we are not in a position to confirm there is any truth in this gossip, we do know that the police are at least looking into the possibility of negligence. On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Basel-Landschaft public prosecutor’s office confirmed to the Swiss press that an investigation into possible criminal negligence is underway.
Photo: Taxiarchos228 at the German-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
According to Swiss news service 20 Minuten, no information has been made public regarding which persons are being investigated.
It is thought that officers will be focusing on the driver of the truck that caught fire first. The two vehicles that were ablaze came from Poland and Lithuania respectively. The former was loaded with solar panels, while the latter was hauling printing ink.
If someone is found guilty of criminal negligence, the maximum punishment is 3 years’ imprisonment.