2023-09-24 08:24:37
Due to a landslide, a highway in southwest Sweden was destroyed over a hundred meters, trapping cars and causing three minor injuries. The incident could be linked to a neighboring construction site.
Several cars and a bus plunged into a sinkhole following a landslide that caused the collapse of the E6 motorway north of Gothenburg, Sweden.
The landslide “affected around ten vehicles, a forest area and a commercial area including a gas station and a restaurant,” said the head of emergency services in the region.
The most affected area covers an area of 100 meters by 150 meters but in total, the landslide extends over an area of approximately 700 meters by 200 meters, emergency services said.
Three people were taken to hospital with “minor injuries” following the collapse, which occurred in Stenungsund, 50 km north of Gothenburg.
Vehicles trapped
Local media images show a large breach running more than a hundred meters, with several trucks damaged and tilted while a bus has sunk into a hole. Large cracks crack the parking lot of a gas station and a wooded area has subsided significantly.
“Several people were helped out of their vehicles in the landslide area with the help of firefighters and helicopters,” emergency services said.
My vehicle started moving and I didn’t understand what was happening.
Uladzislau Miklash, truck driver
The driver of a truck parked in the area’s parking lot said he woke up when his truck began to slide shortly before 2 a.m.
The neighboring construction site suspected
A preliminary investigation for “aggravated public destruction” has been opened and investigators will question staff at a nearby construction site where explosions took place, police announced.
“It is not certain whether there is a link between the blasting, the work on the site and the collapse,” adds the police.
The risk of other landslides cannot be excluded at this stage, according to emergency services. The Swedish National Transport Administration is planning a closure of this section of the highway for several weeks.
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