A dramatic accident occurred this Saturday evening around 10:30 p.m. on the A709 motorway, between Montpellier and Nîmes, near Saint-Aunès (Hérault). A motorcycle and a gendarmerie rapid intervention vehicle collided, causing the death of two people, reports Free Midday.
The chase would have started after the Saint-Jean-de-Védas tollbooth, where the motorcycle had been checked traveling at 139 km/h on an axis limited to 90 km/h. According to the first elements of the investigation, the fast gendarmerie vehicle, an Alpine with two soldiers on board, was pursuing the motorcycle in the direction of the Vendargues/Baillargues exit. “While they were approaching, near the Vendargues/Baillargues exit, in the town of Saint-Aunès, for a reason which remains to be determined, the Alpine would have hit the motorcycle, which fell”specified the Montpellier public prosecutor's office.
The driver of the motorcycle, a 30-year-old man living in Castries (Hérault), and his passenger, a 17-year-old young woman living in Saint-Just (Hérault), died quickly after the impact, despite the intervention of the gendarmes and witnesses present at the scene.
Ongoing investigations
The driver of the Alpine was slightly injured, as was his passenger. He was interviewed by investigators this Sunday afternoon to establish the exact circumstances of the accident. According to the first elements collected, the driver of the motorcycle did not have a driving license and the vehicle was not insured. “The legal consequences will depend on the various investigative actions in progress: hearings of the driver, witnesses, material findings, samples, examination of surveillance videos”added the deputy prosecutor of Montpellier.
A few hundred meters upstream of the fatal impact, another accident also took place almost simultaneously, involving several vehicles. This pileup left five people injured.
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