Wreckage on the roads

The driver of a cement mixer which over-turned in Palma yesterday causing traffic chaos escaped unhurt, unfortunately, the female driver involved in an accident near Petra was last night being treated for serious injuries. The cement mixer turned over at the Can Valenti roundabout, near the Palma cemetery just before 11.30am. It appears that the driver, heading from Andratx to Palma, took the Palma access too fast and rolled the lorry which spilled across the road. The driver was rushed to hospital while police cordoned off the road and called in an industrial crane to remove the lorry and engineers were needed to clear the cement off the road. Long tail-backs built up as traffic was reduced to single file for most of the three hours it took engineers to clear the accident and re-open the road. Further traffic chaos was caused by a three-car pile-up along the Manacor to Petra road. The accident happened at 12.20 when a Citroen driven by 73-year-old Rafael CC and his wife collided with a vehicle driven by a 37-year-old man. The Citroen ended up careering off the road, Rafael escaped serious injury, but his 74-year-old wife Antonia was rushed to hospital after one of her legs had to be cut free from the wreckage. The 37-year-old driver of a Renault 19 escaped lightly as did the 53-year-old driver of a van which was unable to avoid crashing into the Renault. Part of the road was closed off while the emergency services dealt with the injured, police and fire fighters with the wreckage. An investigation has been launched into the cause of the pile-up.