Environment at 7:15 this morning – Sunday 26 February – a long lorry with a trailer carrying fruit and vegetables has fallen off the A1 motorway while he was crossing the Marinella viaduct: the man driving died engulfed in flames.
The firefighters intervened as soon as they received the alarm of the accident, which had occurred in the Municipality of Calenzano: the heavy vehicle went off the road at Km 274 of Autosole ed it fell several meters below, at the viaduct on provincial road 107.
The victim
The victim is a truck driver from Nocera Inferiore (Salerno). The man died trapped in the cockpit. He was 55 years old, married and had one childworked for a transport company.
Traffic and queues
The highway has been temporarily closed in the section between Calenzano and Barberino di Mugello in the direction of Bologna.
At 11 a lane swap was then organised and traffic was able to continue in both directions on the southbound carriageway where only one lane passes in each direction.
Several kilometers of queues were reported on the stretch towards Bologna throughout the afternoon of Sunday.
The causes of the accident and the rescue operations
The vehicle would have caught fire immediately after the impact eaAt the moment, the causes of his going off the road are not known: the firefighters intervened with three teams and seven vehicles, one of which was a crane. They shut down the vehicle and the semi-trailer.
The driver was found dead inside the car.
«This morning shortly after 7:00, according to what we were able to reconstruct thanks to the cameras positioned on the stretch, an articulated lorry traveling along the A1 motorway towards Bologna between Calenzano and Barberino di Mugello, in taking a curve, he first lost control and hit the safety barrier on the left-hand side – reconstructed Matteo Marvogli, director of the Florence section of Aspi, in an interview with Isoradio – then, following the impact, he quickly reversed his direction going into collision with a high angle of incidence the safety barrier on the right side, knocking it down and falling over the viaduct. The vehicle caught fire as a result of the accident.
The CGIL: “An accident at work”
The Filt CGIL union speaks of “another unacceptable tragedy at work”. «We don’t know the details – says Monica Santucci, regional secretary – However, we do know that in that section, unfortunately, these tragic events are not few. A few weeks ago an accident between three trucks caused queues as far as Florence».
The investigations
The Prato prosecutor’s office coordinates the investigations by the Polstrada, which intervened with the firefighters. The body will undergo forensic medical examinations. The remains of the truck are impounded. According to what has been learned, the “black box” that records the vehicle’s speed and times would have been destroyed in the flames. The causes of the out-of-control skid are yet to be established of the truck, illness or mechanical failure some hypotheses. On the dynamics, the cameras show that the accident is autonomous, the truck does everything by itself and there are no other vehicles involved. The bottom was wet from the rain.