Two young people die in crash near Jūrkalne

Two people died in a head-on collision between a passenger car and a truck on the Ventspils–Grobiņa road near Jūrkalne, LSM reported, citing TV Kurzeme. Experts estimated that the car may have been travelling at around 200 kilometres per hour.

Police received information about the crash at about 7.40am in Jūrkalne Parish, Ventspils Municipality. The collision involved an Alfa Romeo passenger car and an Iveco truck. The driver and passenger of the Alfa Romeo died.

Police have opened a criminal investigation and are establishing the precise cause of the crash.

After examining the scene, experts concluded that the passenger car was in the oncoming lane at the moment of impact. The truck was travelling with an empty tanker, which helped prevent an explosion, a large fire and possibly further casualties, according to Oskars Irbītis, a traffic and road safety expert at the Road Traffic Safety Directorate.

“The fragments of the car in the background indicate an enormous speed. The young people were travelling very fast, and the consequences were extremely tragic,” Irbītis said.

He also warned people not to approach such crash scenes. The tanker was designed to transport gas, and the passenger car caught fire after the collision, making the consequences unpredictable.

Emergency services worked at the scene for several hours, and traffic on the road section was completely blocked until 2.30pm. Three tanker trucks, a chemical response vehicle and a rescue vehicle were involved in the operation, said Edijs Laterers, commander of the Ventspils unit of the State Fire and Rescue Service’s Kurzeme regional division.

The State Environmental Service is also involved in assessing the consequences of the crash.