The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Driver going wrong way causes accident in Gotthard tunnel

Wrong-way driver causes accident in Gotthard highway tunnel
Wrong-way driver causes accident in Gotthard highway tunnel Keystone-SDA

A 76-year-old driver going in the wrong direction caused a head-on collision on the A2 motorway in canton Uri on Friday. Five people were injured in the accident in the Naxberg tunnel.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

According to a statement from the Uri cantonal police, the motorist was driving south on the A2 after 7am. In the front tunnel of the Gotthard road tunnel, he turned around and drove back north in the overtaking lane.

In the Naxberg tunnel the man collided head-on with a correctly oncoming vehicle, according to the Uri cantonal police. Four people were seriously injured. One person suffered minor injuries. They were taken to the cantonal hospital in Altdorf by ambulances from the cantons of Uri, Ticino and Lucerne.

+ Switzerland greenlights use of self-driving cars on motorways from March 2025

It was unclear on Friday why the senior citizen turned his car when entering the Gotthard road tunnel. The police were also unable to provide any information on the amount of material damage.

The A2 was closed southbound for around 90 minutes due to the accident.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Record-breaking Bocion sold at Basel auction for $270,250

More

François Bocion painting fetches record at Swiss auction

This content was published on The oil painting La chasse aux grèbes by Lausanne artist François Bocion (1828-1890) fetched a record CHF270,250 ($315,530) at an auction in Basel in early April, the highest price ever paid for one of his works.

Read more: François Bocion painting fetches record at Swiss auction
House price rises accelerate

More

Swiss property prices continue to climb

This content was published on The prices of owner-occupied properties continued to rise in the first three months of 2025. But large regional disparities remain.

Read more: Swiss property prices continue to climb
The storm from the USA continues to sweep through the Swiss stock market

More

US storm continues to sweep through Swiss stock market

This content was published on The Swiss stock market continued to trade in the red mid-afternoon on Monday, following in the wake of the world's stock markets, which fell heavily as a result of the trade war launched by Donald Trump.

Read more: US storm continues to sweep through Swiss stock market
Swiss vote on e-ID likely

More

Swiss likely to vote on e-ID

This content was published on The referendum committee announced in Bern on Monday that it had collected more than 60,000 signatures against the e-ID project. The initials still need to be approved.

Read more: Swiss likely to vote on e-ID

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR