Driver's Cabin Buried Under 50 Tons: Truck Occupants Stable After Bridge Collapse in Linz

The 22-year-old driver is in the general ward, while the 18-year-old passenger is still being treated in the intensive care unit, according to the Kepler University Hospital. Both were operated on for several hours on Wednesday afternoon.

Driver's Cabin Buried Under Bridge: Truck Occupants Trapped

The men from the Rohrbach district were on their way to a construction site with the truck on Wednesday morning. The truck had a crane boom on the loading area, and according to the police, it likely hit a bridge element in the Auwiesen district. As a result, the bridge collapsed, and a component weighing around 50 tons buried the driver's cabin underneath.

The two truck occupants were trapped in the wreckage and were cut out of the vehicle in a complex and dangerous operation. First, the fire department secured the bridge part that was on the driver's cabin, then the men were freed one after the other with a rescue shear, treated, and taken to the Linz Kepler University Hospital.

Fire Department Removed Truck, Road Reopened

Late Wednesday afternoon, the truck was pulled out from under the collapsed bridge element by a recovery company. According to the Linz professional fire department, the bridge element was lifted for this purpose. It was later transported away by a low-loader. The accident site was thus cleared, and the road was reopened to traffic according to police information. The investigations into the cause of the accident are not yet complete.

(APA/Red)

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