Sprinters with unsecured fireworks: Danger from "mass explosive material"

Created: 2022-12-30Updated: 2022-12-30 10:52 am

By: Jonas Napiletzki

A dangerous goods control team from the police headquarters in Oberbayern Süd pulled a Sprinter out of circulation with fireworks (symbolic image).

© David Inderlied/dpa/Symbolbild

Strict regulations apply to the transport of fireworks.

Without explosion protection and with a power bank in the immediate vicinity, a Sprinter driver has now been caught.

Irschenberg

- Shortly after Christmas, a dangerous goods control team from the Oberbayern Süd police headquarters checked a sprinter near Irschenberg that, according to the marking, was carrying explosive substances.

In fact, there were almost 750 kilograms of fireworks in the vehicle.

The driver should not have transported the freight in his vehicle, a police spokesman reports.

The 49-year-old driver - the son of an Italian fireworks manufacturer - was on his way from Italy to Germany at the time of the check.

Among its cargo were various firecrackers that fall under the category of "large fireworks".

They may only be delivered to persons with proof of specialist knowledge.

"These alone contained around 450 kilograms of pure material with a mass explosion hazard," reports the police.

Instead of protected cable harnesses: the driver charges his power bank

The problem: when examining the loading space, the officials found that a power bank was being charged with a standard cable in the immediate vicinity of the goods being transported.

You have to know that the type of fireworks you are carrying may only be transported in explosion-proof vehicles.

According to the police, this includes double protection of the cable strands against short circuits in order to keep the risk of an explosion as low as possible.

However, the power bank had a lithium-ion battery that could have caused a fire.

"One can really count on luck here that no incident occurred before the control," explains the police spokesman.

If 450 kilograms of explosives were immediately and completely deployed on the motorway, nothing would have been left of the transport vehicle.

Driving and rest times not recorded - "least problem"

"Not to mention," said the officer, "of endangering or even harming other road users."

The fact that the driver did not keep any records of his driving and rest times was the smallest of his problems.

"The continuation of the journey was of course prohibited and extensive investigations followed, including according to the explosives law."

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