That car appeared suddenly and the inevitable collision transformed the A7 Milan-Genoa, in the Pavia section between the Gropello Cairoli and Casei Gerola toll booths, into a tangle of metal sheets. Two dead and three injured, including a 4-year-old child, are the toll of the accident caused by a white SUV which – according to what was ascertained by the Milan West Assago traffic police – was traveling on the highway in the wrong direction. He would have traveled a stretch of a few kilometers in the wrong direction: from the Casei Gerola tollbooth to the crash site, in the territory of the municipality of Silvano Pietra. The crash in the early afternoon, with the sun shining on the asphalt. The victims are the drivers of the car in the wrong direction (a man residing in the Milanese area), and the car that could not avoid it, a woman who was headed to Genoa.

The three injured – father, son and the man’s cousin – were traveling on a third car that failed to avoid the wreckage on the road towards the Ligurian capital. The man, the most serious, was transported by helicopter to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan in red code; the woman and the child, both green codes, were taken by ambulance to the San Matteo hospital in Pavia. In shock, but unharmed, the passengers of two other cars who managed to stop in time.

“I saw a car go by in the wrong direction on the highway. He was traveling at high speed in the opposite direction in the lane that is normally used for overtaking. I had to look in the rearview mirror twice to convince myself that what I had seen was all true. After a few minutes the inevitable happened. My legs are still shaking, ”a witness says on social media. “I would be able to be among the victims – he adds -. It was only a matter of time. ‘

To allow rescue intervention, the motorway in the section between Gropello Cairoli and Casei Gerola was closed for a long time, causing several kilometers of queue and severe inconvenience to traffic on this last Sunday in June. The 118 health workers could not help but ascertain the death of the two victims, who died instantly in the clash. The traffic police, also with the aid of security cameras, will have to establish why the car entered the lane in the wrong direction. An autopsy is likely to be carried out on the corpse of the driver of the SUV.