Horror crash with wrong-way driver: 19-year-old dies

In the area of ​​the Vorchdorf motorway exit, the young driver from the Linz Land district suddenly encountered the car of a 47-year-old man from Kirchdorf. Neither driver was able to prevent a head-on collision. The 19-year-old was taken to Wels Hospital with serious injuries, where he died a short time later.

According to a press release, the accident occurred at around 2 a.m. The force of the impact caused the car of the 47-year-old Kirchdorfer to be thrown against the concrete central wall of the carriageway, while the 19-year-old's car came to rest on the driver's side in the hard shoulder. A Czech man following behind collided with one of the two vehicles involved in the accident, but the 59-year-old was uninjured.

Drivers trapped in vehicles

According to the ORF report on Saturday morning, both the 19-year-old from Linz and the 47-year-old from Kirchdorf were trapped in their vehicles with severe injuries. Christoph Eder, head of operations at the Eberstalzell fire department, told the ORF that rescuing the 19-year-old was “very difficult” because “the person was also trapped in the foot area.”

The second rescue “did not have to take place quite as quickly because in this case the person was still responsive and not so badly trapped.” The 47-year-old was flown by rescue helicopter to a hospital in Linz, the Westautobahn was completely closed until 6 a.m. Where and why the wrong-way driver got onto the motorway in the wrong direction towards Salzburg is still unclear.