Thick cloud of smoke

Truck on fire: total closure on the highway

Three fire departments were called out to deal with the fire.(Bild: Feuerwehren Seiersberg und Unterpremstätten)

A truck caught fire in the Plabutschtunnel in the direction of Spielfeld on Thursday. The 43-year-old driver stopped at the next breakdown bay near Seiersberg and a short time later the truck burst into flames. This resulted in a total closure, fortunately nobody was injured. Engine damage is suspected to be the cause of the fire.

These are violent images of a truck fire in the middle of the highway, which was just barely contained: At around 10 a.m., a 43-year-old truck driver was driving in the Plabutschtunnel on the A9 in the direction of Spielfeld when he noticed smoke in the exhaust pipe area. With a lot of luck, he managed to get out of the tunnel and stopped on a hard shoulder in the Shopping City Seiersberg area.

Extensive extinguishing work
A few seconds later, the truck was fully engulfed in flames. The Seiersberg and Unterpremstätten volunteer fire departments rushed to the scene and were able to extinguish the fire after about an hour. However, further pockets of embers appeared inside, which is why the Graz professional fire department was called in. The final all-clear was only given at 12.10 pm.

The burnt-out truck in the breakdown bay.(Bild: Feuerwehren Seiersberg und Unterpremstätten)

The A9 was completely closed in the morning due to the truck fire. A detour was set up during the extinguishing and recovery work - the closure was lifted at 2.45 pm. Fortunately, all road users escaped with a shock. The fire was probably caused by engine damage.