Dresden pile-up driver was 'exhausted'

Photo: EPA/Roland Halkasch

Lorenz Haase, a spokesman for a local prosecutor's office, had argued that the arrest was necessary as the 44-year-old driver might have attempted to abscond.

However, the court ruled that such a preventive measure was not justified, given that the driver is currently in hospital.

According to the prosecution, the driver succumbed to “exhaustion” in the early hours of Saturday morning on the A4 motorway, losing control of the Sindbad firm's coach and ramming into a Ukrainian bus.

A Polish minibus coming in the other direction was hit after the vehicles smashed through barriers dividing the motorway.

Seven Polish casualties have been confirmed, but the remaining three fatalities have not yet been identified.

Sopot driver awaits charges

Meanwhile, a Polish man is expected to be charged on Monday in Sopot, northern Poland, after he ploughed his Honda car into a crowd of pedestrians on a pier on Saturday night.

There were no fatalities in the incident, but 22 were injured. Police said that while the man was not under the influence of alcohol, it is suspected that he had taken narcotics. Test results for the latter are due on Monday. (nh)

Accident site in Sopot. Photo: PAP/Piotr Wittman