By Andrew Atkinson
Former Valencia Basketball club players, Ariel Serfaty and Àlvaro Fernández, have been tragically killed in a horrific multiple car pileup on the A-7 highway, near to the municipality of Rotglà i Corberà, Valencia.
The incident which occurred on January 31 lead to five people dying and four injured.
In a statement the Basketball Club expressed condolences.
“Condolences of the entity and all the colleagues and friends of the great ‘Taronja Family’ for the loss of the youngsters Ariel and Álvaro, former players from the lower categories of the club, as well as the other three fatalities of the accident.
“Both Ariel and Álvaro, only 20 and 21 years old, were linked to the club by close family ties.
“In the case of Ariel, with direct involvement in various activities of L’Alqueria del Basket in an active way, in addition to being the son of the current DJ of the women’s games at our club.”
The Valencia based Basketball Club announced it will observe a respectful minute of silence for the five fatalities on Wednesday (February 2) prior to the Eurocup Women match that will face BC Pokowice.
The incident occurred after an 83-year-old man drove the wrong way. According to Civil Guard sources he died after the impact, after driving in the opposite direction.
According to information, the driver collided head-on with a Renault Laguna passenger car that was driving correctly, driven by a twenty-year-old man, accompanied by three passengers of the same age.
As a result of the impact, both cars crossed the central reservation. At that time, there was another collision of a Mercedes ML driven by a 65-year-old man who was accompanied by a 66-year-old woman.
Seconds later, a third impact took place, with a Volvo brand vehicle driven by a 37-year-old man.
As a result of the events, of the occupants of the car that caused the accident, the 87-year-old driver and an 89-year-old woman, both died; a third passenger was seriously injured.
In the car driven by the 83-year-old man, the Guardia has confirmed the death of two men and a woman aged 20, 21 and 18 respectively in the vehicle into which he crashed. In the other vehicles, the occupants were slightly injured. The Civil Guard are investigating the causes of the road accident at the scene.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has corroborated the state of the investigation of the Benemérita agents.
“This is not the time to make conclusions, but to let the police work to determine the causes of the accident”, he said.
Three fire engines from the Alzira and Xàtiva parks, along with commands, travelled to the scene, a kilometre point 395 of the A-7 towards Alicante.
Two basic life support ambulances also attended, which transferred the injured to the Lluís Alcanyís hospital in Xàtiva and later to the General Hospital in Valencia.
