07.02.2014
Bridge basher closes tunnel
A driver who forgot to stow his loader crane, closed the Belchen tunnel between Olten and Basel, Switzerland last night. Fortunately no one was hurt in the incident.
The driver had apparently loaded a container at a rest area around midnight last night, and then headed off down the A2/E35 highway towards Basel, without stowing the crane. He struck the lights and tunnel entrance casing considerable damage. The one side of the tunnel was closed for several hours while the crane was extracted and the mess cleaned up.
Please register to see all images
The scene last night
This is apparently the second incident with a crane in the area so far this year, another hit a bridge over the highway near Birmenstorf in mid January.
Unfortunate incident however totally preventable. I operate a Palfinger mounted on a Kenworth K 104 and have a lock out fitted so if the crane is above a certain height the handbrake won't release and the PTO alarm will not turn off.
The lesson is surely to set your equipment up properly to attempt to eliminate these scenarios from occurring