Four German women and a man died in a car accident in Ukraine on Thursday, officials in the Emergency Situations Ministry said, according to dpa. The car they were travelling in crashed after colliding head on with a cargo lorry on a highway near the city of Poltava, some 350 kilometres to the south-east of the capital Kiev. Three of the women were aged 23 and one was aged 25, diplomats in Berlin said. All four were reportedly from the German state of Brandenburg. The nationality of the man was being investigated, Ukrainian officials said. All but one of the victims died on the scene of the accident, and the fifth in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. It appeared most likely that the lorry driver had caused the crash, as his vehicle had crossed into the opposing lane of traffic before striking the car carrying the Germans, Ukrainian police said. Ukraine's inter-city roads are among Europe's most deadly due to their poor condition and the high speeds of vehicles using them. Unlike in west Europe, Ukraine's highways are almost never divided and head-on collisions are common. Speed laws on highways are poorly enforced.
