After the serious accident at the Gräfenhausen Ost gas station and rest area on the A5 on Monday morning, in which a man died in the flames of his burning car, the Darmstadt criminal police presented the first results of the investigation.
According to this, the killed driver of the accident car is a 54-year-old man.
According to the police, he raced into the gas station in his car, an Audi, at well over 150 kilometers an hour.
There he drove head-on into a pillar of the roof, tearing the car in two and catching fire.
The fire spread to several gas pumps and other vehicles.
According to initial estimates, the resulting property damage should be in the single-digit million range.
Jochen Remmert
Airport editor and correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.
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At the request of the Darmstadt public prosecutor's office, the body will be autopsied on Tuesday.
A DNA comparison should confirm the identified identity of the deceased.
So far, the police and public prosecutors assume that he may have acted with suicidal intent.
The fire brigade's work to extinguish the fire lasted until late Monday evening because the roof, made of metal and plastic, could hardly be extinguished.
At around 9.15 p.m., all lanes on the A5 to the north were cleared again.