Second crash seals off Swiss alpine crossings
Traffic across much of Swiss Alps came to a halt on Thursday, after an accident forced the closure of Europe's second main north-south artery.
A day after a fatal fire sealed off the Gotthard – the main route between Germany and Italy – a second accident near the San Bernardino tunnel cut off the last main transit route through Switzerland.
Police said a truck crashed into a car and a mini-bus after it left the six-kilometre San Bernardino tunnel, killing the mini-bus driver.
They closed the Swiss-Italian border to all trucks coming into Switzerland, and said the northbound route would remain off limits to freight traffic for much of the day.
Police in the northern Swiss city of Basel were reported to be closing the border to trucks as well.
The closure of both the Gotthard and the San Bernardino routes has effectively cut off Italy’s main road connections to northern Europe because the Mont Blanc tunnel link with France has been closed since a fatal fire killed 39 people in 1999.
The closures are already causing major problems for freight hauliers. Some 3,600 trucks pass through the Gotthard daily, and industry sources say 80 per cent of cargo travelling from Italy to northern European airports goes through the tunnel.
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