About a hundred vehicles were involved in the mass crash on the E18 on Saturday. A total of about 120 people were taken to hospitals in Uppsala, Enköping, Västerås and Stockholm. Many had serious injuries and two people were admitted to the intensive care unit. Their condition is said to be stable.
Both cars and trucks were everywhere on the road between Bålsta and Enköping and several people testify to a great chaos. One of them is Hamody, 20, who ended up in the middle of the mass crash.
– I was stuck there for three hours. The ambulances could not drive past the cars at the beginning because of the crash. I was very close to crashing too. It was too foggy, you could hardly see the cars in front of you, he says.
Was close to colliding yourself
Photo: Private
Hamody says he managed but that it was really close that he drove into the car in front of him as he could hardly see the car’s red lamps.
– I got closer but it didn’t move. I slowed down hard but it was too slippery. When the distance was not enough, I turned to the right, otherwise I would have driven into the car in front. I was lucky to manage, but I was afraid someone would drive into me from behind, he says and continues:
– I saw people running around and was stressed, then I realized it was serious. When I got out of my car after the shock settled, I tried to find out what had happened and tried to help people.
“It was chaos”
It was cold, blew hard and snowed on the spot. Hamody describes a fear just after he saved himself by swinging off. Police described the mass crash as “a scene from dystopian movie scene with stationary cars holes about noise”. Hamody agrees.
“It was chaos, it never ended,” he says.
Now the crash will be investigated by both the Swedish Transport Administration and the police. And Hamody wants to encourage road users to take it easy and to adjust the speed to the road.
– It was a snowstorm. The error is not on the E18 or the drivers, it was too foggy, snowy and slippery. Could not see. The road was for Hal, it felt like you were skating. Therefore, the braking distance was so long. No matter how much you tried to slow down, people drove into each other anyway, he says.
Yesterday 21:04