In a police rescue operation, 30 children were taken from Autobahn 7 to a hotel after their coach broke down. The group from a Mannheim dance club and their supervisors had previously been stranded in the Hessian district of Hersfeld-Rotenburg near Neuenstein-Aua, as the police announced. Accordingly, the children between the ages of 9 and 14 were on the way home from a dance tournament in Baunatal, Hesse – which they had won.
The bus stopped late in the evening on the hard shoulder of the A7 shortly before the Bad Hersfeld West junction with an engine failure. In view of the failed heating and the cold, an interim solution had to be found, according to the police, as a replacement bus would take around two hours to get there: The officers led the children and adults on foot from the motorway to the directly adjacent town of Neuenstein-Aua.
Police cut away bushes
After the police officers had cut away the undergrowth on a service staircase down from the highway, they accompanied the dance group to a nearby country inn. Also included: the winner’s trophy and the club mascots. It was just after midnight when the group arrived. The hotel staff looked after them until the young dancers could continue their journey on the replacement bus at around 2.40 a.m.
