Toddler and teen in critical condition following deadly Arta crash
A 3-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were in critical condition on Friday following a deadly crash on the national highway near the northwestern town of Arta, in which five people died, rather than seven as was initially reported.
The incident occurred when a vehicle being driven by a 40-year-old man taking his 84-year-old father and 69-year-old mother to Arta veered into the opposite lane and crashed in an oncoming car. The car was being driven by a 43-year-old woman and contained five passengers – her 31-year-old sister and four children, two girls aged 15 and 16, and two boys aged 3 and 13.
The 43-year-old woman, her 13-year-old son and her sister, as well as the two elderly passengers in the oncoming vehicle died before paramedics arrived at the scene.
The 40-year-old man and three of the children in the other car were seriously injured, with doctors currently fighting to save the 3-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl, who suffered life-threatening injuries, according to local media.
Investigators believe that the 40-year-old either fell asleep at the wheel or was blinded by the afternoon sun when he lost control of the vehicle. There is no evidence to suggest that he had been intoxicated at the time, local media said.