According to the police, seven people died in a serious traffic accident in Thuringia. Two others, including the suspected cause of the accident, were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, a spokesman for the state operations center said on Saturday evening.

According to the information, a vehicle was on the B247 near Bad Langensalza when it got into oncoming traffic for an initially unknown reason. The driver then collided with two oncoming vehicles. According to initial police findings, two of the vehicles caught fire and burned out completely.

As several media reported in the evening, the rescue control center had meanwhile issued danger information in the evening, according to which a toxic cloud of smoke had developed after the accident. Residents were advised to keep windows and doors closed and to turn off ventilation and air conditioning. At around 6:30 p.m., the control center gave the all-clear.

Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow (left) wrote in the short message service Twitter: "I mourn the dead and feel with the relatives. So much life extinguished in seconds. It remains bewildered."

The B247 was completely blocked in both directions. Further details, such as those involved in the accident and the exact course of the accident, are not yet known.