On August 6, 2018, at 1:35 pm, an event occurred at Km 4+300 of the road connection between Motorway A1 and Motorway A14 near Bologna (see picture 1 in Annex 1). The section of the road flows over an elevated structure above the urban road network below. Among the vehicles involved in the accidents, there were two ADR vehicles. A tractor with a semitrailer with an LPG class 2 tank that was traveling in the direction north, for reasons to be clarified, violently hit the column of vehicles stationary in the right lane. The driver of the LPG tank vehicle died immediately due to the impact (see picture 2 in Annex 1).
The last vehicle in the row was a vehicle carrying paint solvents – class 3 flammable liquids – which leaked onto the road due to the impact and immediately caught fire (0.5 sec). The fire engulfed the LPG tank quickly, initially only the front and then totally. The flames continued to burn the LPG tank, and about 7 minutes a BLEVE occurred. (see pictures 3,4 in Annex 1).
Because of the energy released and the overpressure and heat generated, the road infrastructure collapsed, and the neighboring structures/buildings were strongly affected (see pictures 5, 6, and 7 in Annex 1). In the end, one person died (the driver of the tank vehicle), and 95 persons were injured (all were admitted to the hospitals near the area). Among the injured persons, some police officers and emergency teams rushed to the accident area. Their timely intervention allowed for clearing the area before the explosion, thus reducing damages and saving all the other people present near the scene of the accident.
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