After an accident with two fatalities due to wrong-way driving on Autobahn 40 near Bochum on Friday, a homicide commission is investigating the exact circumstances of the incident. It cannot be ruled out that the wrong-way driver intentionally caused the accident, said a spokesman for the Bochum police. So far, however, there have been no concrete indications of this. You can't substantiate it, but you can't rule it out either.

A 54-year-old woman drove her SUV in the wrong direction on the A40 on Friday morning. Between Bochum-Wattenscheid-West and Gelsenkirchen-Süd there was a collision with two other cars. The wrong-way driver and a man from one of the captured cars died, the other driver was seriously injured, the police said. It was initially unclear why the woman was driving on the wrong side.

help came too late

According to the fire department, there was one person in each of the three accident cars. Any help came too late for the two fatally injured, they died in their cars, a spokesman said. It was certainly a dramatic sight for the emergency services to see this "really severe devastation" at the scene of the accident, he said.

The off-road vehicle of the wrong-way driver was thrown into the oncoming lane by the impact. The engine block was also ripped out of one of the vehicles involved. This hit a truck, the driver of which was not injured.

The A40 between Bochum and Essen was temporarily blocked in both directions. There were long traffic jams.

Police notice