Pile-ups on the road: Severe dust storms in Central Europe

Heavy dust storms have caused traffic obstructions and consequent fatalities across both Hungary and Slovakia.

Clouds of dust and sand severely reduced the visibility on several roads in Hungary and Slovakia on Saturday 11th March. On the motorways, drivers were sometimes only able to see a few metres away.

In Hungary, a pile-up involving more than 40 vehicles occurred on the M1 motorway near its capital Budapest. There was one fatality with 39 others injured, two of them critically.

A similar situation also developed in Slovakia, with accidents also due to severe visibility issues. Among other locations, the D2 motorway near the capital Bratislava was forced closed in both directions.

The dust storms were caused by strong winds brought to central and south-eastern Europe by Storm "Diethelm". On Saturday, gusts of over 60 mph were widely recorded.

The wind then picked up vast amounts of dust and sand from the surrounding fields and carried it onto the roads. As a result, visibility in the affected areas was often close to zero.