Six die in head-on collision near Palmela

Six men have died and two were injured in a vehicle accident on Thursday morning on the IC1 in Marateca, Palmela.

A crew of construction industry workmen in a nine-seat van collided head-on with a delivery vehicle near the town of Vale de Cão.

One of the injured is the driver of the delivery vehicle. He is Spanish and remains in a serious condition.

In the van, six men died and one suffered minor injuries. The driver, 25-years-old, died at the scene.

One of the vehicles was in the oncoming lane, but the commander of the Setúbal traffic station of the GNR, Captain Antonino Ferreira, said he did not have any information yet that indicated which of the two vehicles this was.

The Spanish driver of the delivery vehicle, which was transporting materials to the AutoEuropa Automóveis assembly plant in Palmela, was rushed to the Hospital of São Bernardo, in Setúbal.

Captain Ferreira said that the nationality of three of the victims had been verified – two were Portuguese and one was Brazilian.