Freeway closed

Car crashes into breakdown bay in tunnel without braking

A spectacular accident occurred on the Rhine Valley highway in Vorarlberg on Monday evening. A 39-year-old man was driving his car in the Pfänder Tunnel in the direction of Tyrol when he lost control for an as yet unexplained reason and crashed into a concreted vehicle deflector without braking.

At 7.57 p.m., the 39-year-old was coming from Germany on the Rheintalautobahn in the direction of Tyrol when he overshot the right-hand edge of the road in the Pfänder Tunnel at the level of the second breakdown bay for an as yet unexplained reason and crashed into the concrete vehicle deflector at the end of the breakdown bay without braking. 

Fire department deployed with heavy equipment
According to the police, the small white car then crashed into the tunnel wall on the left and finally came to a standstill in the right-hand lane. The driver of the car had to be freed from the wreck with heavy equipment by the fire department, which arrived with a total of eight vehicles and 50 firefighters. He had suffered injuries of indeterminate severity.

Tunnel had to be closed
The vehicle deflector in the breakdown bay was severely damaged and the tunnel wall was also damaged. Due to the accident, the Pfänder Tunnel was closed to all traffic in the direction of Tyrol and Germany from 19:58 to 21:14.