A serious road crash unfolded on the AS-17 highway near the Riaño tunnels, in the town of La Vallina, Sieran. The incident occurred yesterday, Thursday, just before 3:00 p.m. at kilometer 31.5 of the Avilés-Puerto de Tarna route. A vehicle left the roadway, and eyewitnesses reported a heavy hailstorm in the area at that moment. The 37-year-old driver, identified by initials ASI, stepped out to place warning triangles and alert other drivers. In a tragic sequence, a following vehicle could not stop in time and struck the disabled car at high speed, injuring the driver and resulting in the loss of both legs. Emergency responders confirmed the injuries.
SAMU and Civilian Traffic Security teams immediately rushed to the scene. They worked to treat the injured, control traffic, and file the necessary reports. One lane of the highway was closed to facilitate rescue efforts, and the fallen driver was transported to HUCA with the aim of saving his legs and life.
The crash caused significant traffic disruptions while vehicles involved were removed and the lane in the Langreo direction was closed. Eyewitnesses spoke of the severity of the injuries, and traffic began to return to normal about an hour later.
This collision follows other fatal incidents reported in the Nalón region during the 2023 Christmas period, when a man and a woman died in separate crashes within 36 hours in Aller and San Martín de Rey Aurelio in Cuencas. In the late incident of that sequence, two people sustained injuries and were taken to hospitals in Langreo and Oviedo.
In Aller, Juan Miguel Merino, a 43-year-old resident of Corigos, died in a morning crash on December 24. A motorcyclist veered off the road in Felechosa and collided with a parked car at approximately 05:15. The accident occurred at the 28.7 kilometer mark of AS-112.
Just over a day later, a two-vehicle collision on AS-117 near El Entrego in San Martín del Rey Aurelio left a woman dead and two men injured. SAMU reported that one severely injured individual was evacuated by Langreo UVI to the Central University Hospital of Asturias HUCA, while another man from Mieres UVI was transferred to Valle del Nalón Hospital in Riaño. The deceased was identified as Maria Jesus MontesBlimea, who had been traveling in the car with her husband as a passenger.