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Shot from fire engine: On foot in the direction of the accident site
Photo: Volunteer Fire Brigade Ort im Innkreis / Facebook
When the accident occurred, the emergency services could not say – the couple from Germany had an accident on the Autobahn 8 in the Innkreis in Austria, initially unnoticed. But even when help was on the way, it took much longer than actually necessary.
"The approach to the scene of the accident was delayed by several minutes due to non-compliance with the emergency lane," the fire department said, publishing footage of the incident on social media. They show the incident commander walking along the motorway to personally ask the drivers to make room for the emergency services.
It is now questionable whether at least one of the two accident victims could have been rescued if the two accident victims had intervened more quickly. The 77-year-old driver was still at the scene of the accident and presumably died immediately after the collision of the car with a tree. However, his wife succumbed to her injuries later in hospital.
Discovered only by chance
Whether faster help could actually have saved their lives is "purely speculative", as the spokesman for the responsible volunteer fire brigade told the "Bild" newspaper: "There is no information on this from our side."
In general, the accident had only been discovered by chance. A motorist, who happened to have a small accident nearby and had driven onto the hard shoulder, came across the injured couple. How long before they had an accident there, the police could not say so far.
The couple had driven to a closed parking lot in the Innkreis and crashed into a tree, as the police reported. The place was therefore not visible from the street. The other driver, who had been touched by a car with a trailer on Saturday afternoon, was reportedly standing nearby on the hard shoulder and was on the phone with the police when she saw the injured woman in a meadow in the rearview mirror.
apr/dpa