An 89-year-old German driver has died following a head-on collision on the AP-7 motorway in Orihuela Costa after allegedly driving in the wrong direction for several kilometres.
The fatal accident happened early On Wednesday morning near the La Zenia tollbooth, at kilometre 763 of the AP-7, shortly before the toll plaza in the direction of Cartagena. According to the initial investigation, the deceased was travelling towards Alicante but was driving in the lanes reserved for traffic heading towards Cartagena.
The Civil Guard Traffic Unit was alerted to the collision at around 5.11am. Officers are investigating how the vehicle came to be travelling the wrong way on the motorway, although one of the lines of inquiry is that the driver may have mistakenly entered the opposite carriageway.
Early indications suggest the vehicle may have been travelling in the wrong direction for approximately three kilometres before the crash occurred.
For reasons still under investigation, the wrong-way vehicle collided head-on with another vehicle that was travelling correctly towards Cartagena. The impact proved fatal for the 89-year-old driver, who was driving a German-registered van.
Emergency services, including officers from the Civil Guard Traffic Unit and a SAMU ambulance, were dispatched to the scene. Medical personnel treated the driver of the other vehicle, a 54-year-old man, who suffered a hip injury in the collision.
He was transferred to Torrevieja University Hospital for further treatment.
The Civil Guard is continuing its investigation to determine the exact circumstances of the accident and how the wrong-way driving incident began.
