GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A 27-vehicle pileup on the M5 motorway in Somerset, England, has killed an unknown number of people but initial reports list 5 dead, at least 43 injured. The accident occurred at 20:35 Friday 4 November at exit 25 northbound, near Taunton, with the crashes sparking a huge fireball. It appears that six trucks and at least 20 cars were involved in the huge crash.
Heavy rain earlier in the day Friday and patches of fog may have been involved in causing the accident, but police investigations have not yet clarified what caused the huge fireball.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Thirty-five bodies were recovered by police in Boca del Rio in the Mexican state of Veracruz Tuesday, after they were left in two trucks abandoned on a busy rush-hour road, with the gates open and the bodies spilling out.
Police have identified seven of them, all with criminal backgrounds, according to CNN.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Customs officers in Geneva, at the Bardonnex post, had the slippery task Monday 23 May of destroying 2,470kg of melting margarine that was carried last week in a regular truck, under tarpaulin, from Portugal. The wholesaler in Geneva who ordered the goods told officials that he was planning to re-refrigerate it and supply the bakery business with it.
They pointed out that not only did he not have a license to import perishable foods, but that margarine left unrefrigerated for 90 hours in the heat poses a serious health risk. The quantity imported could have been used for 200,000 croissants.
Customs officials say that in the Mont Blanc tunnel fire in 1999 that cost several lives and closed the tunnel for months, margarine and flour fueled the fire. Margarine must normally be transports in a seal refrigerated truck.
The truck carrying the Portuguese load passed through several tunnels in France en route to Bardonnex.
A mini-economy, with roadside merchants supplying food and drink, has appeared on the Jining-Beijing highway in China, part of the Tibet to Beijing expressway, where a 100-km tailback is now in its ninth day, making it a candidate for the world’s worst traffic jam. The slowdown is the result of road works and a traffic spike caused by heavy trucks on this main goods route into the city, which is under repair due to the damage caused by constant heavy goods traffic. The highway operated at a crawl during July, as well, and according to China’s government-owned Global Times, some motorists have while away the hours by playing cards.
Links to other sites: AFP/Vancouver Sun, Global Times, China
(CNN amateur video) Six people died at the scene and two more in hospital, after a night-time off-road race crash in the Mojave desert in southern California. The 200-mile race was run at night to avoid the desert heat east of Los Angeles in the Lucerne Valley area of San Bernardino County. Spectators are warned to stay well back and the course is barricaded in places where excitement is bound to occur, such as jumps, but the crowd can be difficult to control, say observers, but opinions are mixed about the safety of such races.
Link to CNN
Video
Outer and inner faces of the 2010 Swiss autoroute sticker
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Drivers have until the end of January 2010 to put them on their cars, but the 2010 Swiss autoroute sticker, called a vignette in French, goes on sale today. The background is metallic orange and the date reddish-brown. The CHF40 annual road tax has been sold at the same price since it became law in 1985, managed by the Swiss customs office.
The proof of tax paid sticker must be displayed by cars but also trucks and motorbikes on the autoroute.
