Two men were killed when a lorry jackknifed and crashed into the car they were travelling in on Friday in northern Romania, local outlets report
Horrifying footage captured the moment a lorry jackknifed on a rain-soaked road, crashing into a car and trapping the two men inside.
The driver of the car, 42, and his passenger, 39, tragically died in the accident, which took place on a stretch of the DN2/E85 between the communes of Cristești and Drăgușeni in Iași County, northeast Romania, on Friday afternoon, according to newspaper Monitorul de Suceava. The lorry’s trailer skidded, swung across the road and blocked both lanes. Although the car’s driver attempted to brake, the trailer overturned and crushed the vehicle.
13 firefighters attended the scene, deploying two specialised vehicles with extraction equipment, a SMURD ambulance and teams from the Suceava and Iași County Ambulance Services, Romanian TV channel Digi24 reports.
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Four people were reportedly involved in the accident. The 54-year-old lorry driver was breathalysed and found to have no alcohol in his system, police said. After being examined by medics, he refused to be taken to hospital, the channel reports.
The Iași County Police Inspectorate said in a press release: “On October 24 this year, at around 2.55pm, police officers from the Pașcani Road Bureau were notified via 112 that a road traffic accident with human casualties had occurred in the locality of Cristești on DN2/E85.
“Following investigations, it was found that a 54-year-old man from Bistrița-Năsăud County, while driving a lorry with a trailer from Drăgușeni to Cristești, lost control of the vehicle. The lorry overturned on the roadway and collided with a car driven by a 42-year-old man from Suceava County.”
A criminal case for manslaughter has been opened, and investigations continue to determine the full causes and circumstances of the crash.