Overview

• On the evening of July 19 in Bohmte, Lower Saxony, a Volvo XC60 veered off a rural road, tore through a hedge, struck a seven-year-old boy on a trampoline and became lodged three metres up in a neighbouring barn roof.
• The boy and a 43-year-old female passenger are in life-threatening condition while the 42-year-old driver and three child passengers aged 11, 12 and 13 sustained only minor injuries.
• Dozens of firefighters supported by a dozen ambulances and two rescue helicopters mounted an extraordinary multi-agency operation to cut through the roof and secure the vehicle.
• Two cranes were used to extract the SUV in the early hours of July 20, and prosecutors have since impounded the vehicle and seized the driver’s license.
• German police have ruled out alcohol, collected forensic samples and are probing mechanical factors, driver inputs and local topography to determine what caused the crash.