On Sunday, shortly before 5 p.m., there was a serious accident on Mohrentalstrasse between Hermetschwil-Staffeln and Aristau. As the Aargau cantonal police announced on Monday morning, a Toyota Aygo crossed into the oncoming lane for unknown reasons and collided with a truck. Both car occupants, a man and a woman, died at the scene. As research shows, the deceased parents came from Rottenschwil and left behind several children.
Such an effort takes its toll
Thomas Strebel is commander of the Muri base fire department and was on site during the rescue on Sunday. “It went well from our side. We were able to coordinate well with the rescue service and the cantonal police. From that point of view, it was an operation as usual,” he tells Tele M1.
You can prepare mentally for such a rescue, but there are always few people at the vehicle. “We always have firefighters in the background who can be swapped with the people at the front of the vehicle,” says Strebel.
But even experienced people have to swallow when they see something like this: “You don’t forget these pictures. That’s so. You have to see how you can process it yourself.” Strebel adds that “of course it’s not a pretty picture. We’ll then make sure that the deceased are well covered.”
Joint processing at the fire department
Afterwards, the emergency services meet for coffee or water. It is important to talk to each other. “Some people have more trouble processing what they’ve seen – that’s completely normal.”
The cause of the accident remains unclear. The Aargau cantonal police do not yet want to provide any information about the age of the deceased couple. Meanwhile, the public prosecutor’s office opened a criminal investigation. Mohrentalstrasse had to be closed for several hours due to the rescue work.