A police lieutenant was killed and a traffic officer injured yesterday when their private car — reportedly racing other drivers at the time — slammed into oncoming vehicles on one of Athens’s most heavily policed roads.

The 39-year-old off-duty lieutenant, Emmanouil Deliroglou, was driving the car, a Saab, along Vouliagmenis Avenue at high speed in the early hours, witnesses said, when he lost control of the vehicle and veered into oncoming traffic, colliding with two other cars.

The driver was thrown through the windshield and killed, while his 29-year-old passenger, a traffic policeman whose name has been withheld, suffered only minor injuries as he was wearing his seatbelt. No other injuries were reported.

Traffic police regularly patrol major roads in southeast Athens as motorists often use them for illegal races.