(by Sandra Cordon).
Three serious traffic accidents on major Italian highways Friday killed two people, seriously injured six others, and led to lengthy traffic snarls among overheated motorists heading on vacation.
Police said that Sonia Baiocchi, 52, of Sorbolo in Parma province was killed in one of the two accidents on the A1 motorway in Emilia-Romagna shortly after midnight.
Her husband Mauro Mora was seriously injured when their Citroen Picasso collided with a truck so violently that firefighters struggled to free the victims. In the second crash in that area, a car hit a truck carrying pigs, causing serious injuries to both adults in the car while their five-year-old daughter was said to be unharmed.
The truck overturned, releasing its load of live hogs that in some cases then ran along the moonlit highway lanes, creating a serious traffic hazard.
Parma police and firefighters reportedly helped to round up the swine although some animals made a run for nearby fields and remained at large as searches continued Friday.
Separately, one man was killed on the A14 between Bologna and Taranto south of Ancona when a van equipped to transport the disabled left the road after the driver lost control, police said.
The driver, said to be from the area, was killed while the three passengers in the vehicle were injured, according to early reports. That accident created a queue as long as four kilometres by early Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, a traffic jam that at one point was 13 kilometres long created by one of the two accidents near Parma forced the authorities to stop southward traffic in a section of the motorway for several hours.
That led civil protection workers to distribute cold water to motorists trapped under a baking sun, although some later complained they did not receive help while they were waiting. And in reaction to that accident, a queue that at one point stretched as long as seven kilometres formed on the other side of the highway as curious drivers slowed to see what had happened.
Traffic on Italian highways was especially heavy Friday as families began their August vacations, many driving to one of Italy's beaches.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
