Foggy Highway Horror in Germany Leaves Three Dead, Fourteen Injured After Chain-Reaction Crash Blocks Lanes

Berlin, Germany— A multi-vehicle pileup on a fog-shrouded highway in western Germany Thursday morning killed three people and injured 14 others as dense fog turned the autobahn into a chain-reaction crash zone.

The collision happened around 7:50 a.m. local time on the A3 autobahn near Duisburg, in North Rhine-Westphalia, according to Deutsche Welle and state police. Visibility had dropped below 50 meters after a sudden fog bank settled over the highway overnight. More than 15 vehicles, including three trucks and a van, slammed into each other across both lanes.

Three occupants of two passenger cars died at the scene after their vehicles were crushed between trucks, police said. Fourteen others were injured, four critically, with broken bones and internal injuries. They were taken to hospitals in Duisburg, Oberhausen, and Essen. Rescue crews had to cut open six cars to extract trapped drivers.

"The fog came fast, you could not see brake lights until you were on them," a truck driver who escaped with minor injuries told local radio. "Cars were braking, then hitting. One after another, like dominoes."

Traffic on the A3, one of Germany's busiest freight corridors linking the Ruhr to the Netherlands, was shut down in both directions for more than six hours. The closure caused a 20-kilometer tailback. Police used thermal drones to search for victims in the fog, as wreckage was scattered over 300 meters.

The German weather service had issued a dense fog advisory for the region at 5 a.m., but no speed restrictions were imposed beyond the standard advisory signs. Autobahn sections in this area have no general speed limit, and drivers often travel at 130 to 160 kilometers per hour even in poor visibility. Police said initial evidence suggested excessive speed for conditions was a factor.

The pileup also triggered a small diesel spill from a ruptured truck tank, requiring hazmat crews to contain runoff before it reached a nearby drainage canal. Environmental officials said the spill was contained.

By midday, tow trucks had removed the wreckage, but the road remained closed for investigation and cleanup. Prosecutors said they would examine dashcam footage and the trucks' tachographs to determine speeds.

At dusk, the fog had lifted, but the highway's asphalt was still marked with skid lines and broken glass.

Traffic was moving again, slowly, past the crash site.