a highway collapses for more than a hundred meters

A highway collapsed over a hundred meters near Gothenburg (Sweden) on Saturday September 23, overturning vehicles and causing three minor injuries, according to emergency services and the police. The landslide “affected around ten vehicles, a forest area and a commercial area including a gas station and a fast restaurant”said Daniel Lyckelid, an emergency services manager in the Gothenburg region, in a press release.

Three people were taken to hospital for “minor injuries” following the collapse which occurred in Stenungsund, 50 km north of Gothenburg, said police spokesperson August Brandt.

The most affected area covers an area of ​​100 meters by 150 meters, but the landslide extends in total over an area of ​​approximately 700 meters by 200 meters, emergency services detailed. 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 the roof of the nearby Burger King fast food restaurant has partly collapsed. 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”add the emergency services.

An open investigation

The landslide occurred shortly before two in the morning. A preliminary investigation into “aggravated public destruction” has been opened, and investigators will question staff at a nearby construction site where explosions took place, police said. “It is not certain whether there is a link between the blasting, the work on the site and the collapse”she specifies.

The risk of other landslides cannot be excluded at this stage, according to emergency services.