Scene of the crash near Nowe Miasto nad Pilica. Photos: PAP/Piotr Polak

UPDATE 4 - A three-day period of mourning has been declared after eighteen people died Tuesday morning in a head-on collision near Nowe Miasto nad Pilica, central Poland.

The crash happened at 06.18 CET when a Volkswagen Transporter crashed head-on with a Volvo lorry on regional road number 707. All 18 people travelling in the minivan died.

At 07.00 CET, an air ambulance was called to the scene, although heavy fog prohibited any helicopters being sent from either Warsaw or Lodz.

Three people who were injured in the crash were taken to hospital immediately. Two of the injured minivan passengers died soon after. Four of the crash victims are women, media reports.

The victims of the accident were seasonal workers, reported to have been in transit to a fruit picking job.

After hearing about the tragedy, interior minister Jerzy Miller and Mazovian provincial governor Jacek Kozlowski both travelled to the scene of the crash.

Mourning declared in two Polish provinces

A period of mourning has been declared in the Mazovian province which is to last until midnight, Thursday end. The neighbouring Lodz province has also announced a three-day period of mourning.

President Bronislaw Komorowski has passed on his condolences to the families of the crash victims. A communique on the presidential website writes “I join in the hurt felt by the families and people close to the victims of this tragedy.”

Passengers sat on plastic crates

The accident was most probably caused by dense fog. Police commanding officer Andrzej Matejuk told Polish Radio that “there was fog and freezing temperatures in the area,” continuing that “it seems the driver [of the minivan] incorrectly calculated the distance [from the other vehicle].”

Police have also confirmed that too many people were travelling in the minivan, as the vehicle had only six seats. Other passengers are reported to have been sitting on make-shift seats made of wooden boards and plastic crates.

Safety still an issue on Polish roads

The accident happened during Sensible Speed Day in Poland, an event held to mark European Road Safety Day.

Poland still has alarming statistics as to road fatalities. Only last weekend, there were 350 collisions in which 33 people died and over 440 were wounded. In the majority of cases the main cause of the accidents is speeding. Drunk driving is the second cause of fatal road accidents in Poland.

Head of the “Roads and Safety” Association Ryszard Fonzychowski comments on Tuesday’s accident, saying “the number of passengers on Polish buses is often above the envisaged limit,” adding that the buses “are rarely equipped with seatbelts.”

Not the first, not the last...

The accident has been dubbed as one of Poland’s worst in a number of years. Other tragic road accidents include the death of 13 people travelling on a coach between Warsaw and Bialystok in September 2005.

A bus crash in Gdansk in May 1994 saw 32 people die and 44 injured after a tire exploded causing the driver to lose control of the overloaded vehicle. The bus hit a tree head-on at a speed of 60km/h, crushing the first four metres of the vehicle.

More recently, a Polish coach travelling back from Spain crashed on a motorway near Berlin, causing 14 fatalities. (jb)