WARSAW – Eighteen people died in a head-on collision in central Poland yesterday when a van carrying seasonal apple pickers veered into the opposite carriageway in heavy morning fog and hit a lorry.
Police said 16 of the 18 people in the van died at the scene of the accident near Nowe Miasto nad Pilica, 80km (50 miles) south of Warsaw. Two others died after being transported to a nearby hospital.
Television pictures showed the front of the crumpled remains of a red van lodged in a white lorry.
What appeared like several body bags were lying on the side of the road. “All we know so far is that a van pulled over into the opposite lane,” a police spokesman said.
“I can’t recall such a tragic accident on Polish roads,” Andrzej Matejuk, the head of Poland’s police, told reporters at the site of the accident. “The vehicle was meant for transportation and had only six seats for passengers.”
The van was carrying workers from nearby villages heading to pick apples. Most were sitting on boxes in the back of the van, police said.
A fire brigade official said that due to the fog, visibility at the time of the collision was about 100m.
The lorry driver, who was not badly injured, was in hospital and was to be questioned by police later. – (Reuters)