In Thuringia, after a car accident with seven dead, it is determined how the devastating accident on a federal highway could have happened. There, late on Saturday afternoon, three cars crashed into each other in a curve, two of the cars then burned out completely.

Today, an expert is to re-examine the accident site near Bad Langensalza in the west of the Free State, which was closed overnight, the police said. According to the fire department, three were injured in addition to the dead, according to the police, one of them was still in mortal danger in the morning. No information was given on the identity of the victims.

The accident happened in a long curve of the B247, the road has only one lane in each direction. According to initial findings, one of the cars had hit oncoming traffic for an initially unclear reason and crashed into the two oncoming vehicles.

Victims died in their cars

How violent the collision must have been could be read from the rubble: Two of the vehicles were destroyed beyond recognition - one of the charred wrecks lay across the guardrail, the other remained standing on the road with a shredded body. The third car was overturned on the side of the road.

All victims died in their vehicles. According to police, the bodies could only be recovered after the flames had been extinguished. At times, residents in the vicinity were asked to keep windows and doors closed because of the toxic clouds of smoke.

Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) thanked the helpers for their work under difficult conditions and spoke of images "that will have an impact for a long time to come". He was deeply shocked, Maier told the "Bild" newspaper. "My thoughts are with the seriously injured and the families of the dead." Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) was also dismayed and wrote on Twitter: "I mourn the dead and feel with the relatives. So much life wiped out in seconds. It remains stunned."