Road Tragedy in Central Poland

Eighteen people were killed in a head-on collision in heavy fog approximately 80km south of Warsaw near the town of Nowe Misato nad Pilica on Tuesday morning.

The six-seat Volkswagen Transporter van was carrying 18 seasonal workers as it crashed into a Volvo lorry on the 707 regional road. Sixteen of the passengers died immediately, and the two remaining passed away later in hospital. The lorry's driver survived and is in a nearby hospital.

The accident, which is being dubbed Poland's worst in 16 years, happened during European Road Safety Day, or, Sensible Speed Day in Poland.

A three-day period of mourning, lasting until midnight on Thursday, is in place in the Lodz and Masovian voivodeships.