Drunk driver hits school container in Rottenburg, four hurt

A car veered off the road and struck a school container in Rottenburg, southern Germany, on Tuesday morning, injuring the driver and three children, regional police said.

The Polish driver, aged forty-seven, left Weilerstrasse in his BMW, hit the container hard and came to a stop after a few metres, police in Reutlingen said. A preliminary breath test found he had more than two per mille of alcohol in his system.

The container serves as a teaching building for the Grund- und Realschule im Kreuzerfeld, a primary and secondary school. Three ten-year-old pupils who were inside the classroom container at the time of the crash were hurt by flying debris, police said. Paramedics, who arrived at the scene in large numbers, treated the children. Two of them were taken to hospital by ambulance, while a third was handed over to their parents at the scene.

A further ten-year-old and six nine-year-olds who were also in the container at the time did not need medical treatment, police said. Officers initially gave a different casualty count in a first statement before issuing a corrected version confirming that three children in total were hurt.

The driver, who was alone in his car, was seriously hurt and was also taken to hospital by ambulance, police said. A rescue helicopter that had been requested for him in the immediate aftermath of the crash was not, in the end, used to transport him. His driving licence was seized at the scene and a blood sample was taken from him.

Rottenburg mayor Stephan Neher said some children had been playing outside the container, in the school garden, when the car struck. Police stressed that the crash was an accident and not a deliberate act. Traffic investigators are still working to establish exactly how the driver left the road.

Emergency chaplains looked after other pupils at the school who were shaken by witnessing the crash, broadcaster SWR reported. Some children missed their regular bus home because of the disruption to the school day, so fire crews instead drove them home in an emergency vehicle.