Eight dead, 37 injured in German road accidents

AFP , Saturday 19 Nov 2011

Police say some of the victims of the 5-car pile-up were found trapped in their vehicles, the drivers of the original crash died and 14 were hospitalised with serious injuries

At least eight people were killed and another 37 injured in two road accidents in western Germany, one of them causing a massive pile-up of more than 50 cars, police said Saturday.

The pile-up on a highway in North Rhine-Westphalia state, near the border with The Netherlands, late Friday left three people dead and more than 30 injured, police said, adding that a heavy fog had cut visibility to no more than 150 metres (500 feet).

Then early Saturday near Aachen, a head-on collision of two cars killed five people and left two others critically injured, a police statement said.

The 24-year-old driver of one of the cars had lost control due to driving too fast, and rammed into a car coming in the opposite direction, police said.

Besides the driver, a 22-year-old woman and 19-year-old man died on the spot. Another 20-year-old woman in the car was hospitalised.

In the other vehicle, two people, aged 45 and 47, died instantly and another 32-year-old person suffered serious injuries.

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