Five Police Officers from Navarre Die in Van and Tanker Crash on AP-8. A van carrying five police officers from Navarre collided with a tanker truck on the AP-8 in Elgoibar. All officers died in the accident. The truck driver has been hospitalized. The section of the road is closed, and an investigation is underway.
A serious accident involving police officers occurred in the morning on the AP-8 highway near Elgoibar (Gipuzkoa). A van carrying five Navarre police officers collided with a tanker truck at around 9:15 a.m. at kilometer 69 of the highway in the direction of Bilbao. All five officers, members of the Intervention Brigade, died at the scene. The driver of the truck, owned by Labouriaux, was injured and taken to hospital.
According to authorities, the police officers were on their way to a training session in Iurreta (Biscay), where the Ertzaintza rescue unit is based. After the collision, traffic on the AP-8 was completely halted and vehicles were redirected to the AP-1. Emergency services were working at the scene, and significant delays were reported.
The causes of the accident are being investigated by Ertzaintza. According to preliminary information published on the road authority's portal, the truck may have made a maneuver that caused what is known as a 'scissor effect.' Officials expressed their condolences to the families and colleagues of the deceased. In particular, representatives of Navarre political parties publicly supported the relatives and police officers.
Such tragedies on Spain's roads are not uncommon. Recently, in another part of the country, in Lleida, a tractor driver died after overturning, and a mass collision on the C-31 highway near Barcelona left eight injured — more details can be found in the article on recent road accidents in Catalonia.
For reference: the AP-8 is one of the main highways in northern Spain, connecting the Basque Country with France and Biscay. Road incidents involving official vehicles always draw particular attention to issues of safety and the organization of staff transportation. In such cases, investigations usually take several weeks, after which measures are taken to prevent similar tragedies.
