7 killed and 16 injured as a van overloaded with migrants crashes in southern Germany

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities say a van packed with migrants crashed at a highway junction in southern Germany after the driver accelerated to avoid a police check, killing seven people and injuring 16. Police said a police patrol noticed the overloaded vehicle early Friday and tried to stop it. The driver didn’t react and accelerated to 180 kph (112 mph). Shortly afterward, he lost control of the vehicle when he took a turning off the highway and the van overturned, hurling several of the 23 people on board out of the vehicle. The people on board were Syrian and Turkish citizens. The driver and suspected smuggler, a 24-year-old stateless man resident in Austria, was among the injured.