Nine Injured in Rear-End Collision on German Autobahn A9

A serious rear-end collision on the A9 autobahn in southern Thuringia left nine people injured, including one person with severe injuries. The accident happened Saturday evening when the driver of a motorhome, carrying two children, apparently overlooked a traffic jam between the Rudolphstein and Bad Lobenstein exits.

The motorhome crashed into several vehicles. Among the damaged vehicles were two minibuses carrying eleven children with high support needs and their eight caregivers, who were returning from Austria. The autobahn remained closed for approximately five and a half hours in the direction of Berlin to allow for rescue and recovery efforts.

Police estimated the property damage from the collision at around 350,000 euros. Notably, about 40 minutes before this incident, another accident occurred on the A9 in the direction of Munich around 6 p.m. This earlier accident involved a horse trailer that overturned, leading to the closure of the autobahn in both directions and causing the traffic jam that the motorhome driver later failed to notice.