Swedish motorway crumbles in landslide

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AFP) - A landslide tore apart a stretch of motorway in Sweden on Saturday, injuring three people, police and emergency services said.

It ripped up a petrol station car park, overturned lorries and caved in the roof of a Burger King restaurant. Three people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after the collapse in Stenungsund, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Sweden's second-largest city Gothenburg, a police spokesman said.

Police have opened an investigation into possible links to a nearby building site, where blasts had been taking place.The landslide struck shortly before 2:00 am (0000 GMT). Uladzislau Miklash, a lorry driver, was asleep in his parked vehicle when he felt it start to slide.

"I had no idea what was happening," he told P4 Vast radio. The landslide "affected around ten vehicles, a forest area and a commercial area including a petrol station and a fast-food restaurant", said regional emergency services chief Daniel Lyckelid.

The worst-hit area covers around 100 metres by 150 metres (330 by 500 feet), but the landslide affected an area of around 700 metres by 200 metres in total, the emergency services said. Images on local media showed damaged lorries and a bus that had fallen into a trench.

"Several people were helped out of their vehicles in the area of the landslide with the help of the fire brigade and helicopters," the emergency services added.

Police have opened a probe into "aggravated public destruction" and will question staff at the building site, but said there was not a definitive link "between the blasting, the work on the site and the collapse". Emergency services said they could not rule out the risk of further landslides. Authorities plan to close the section of the E6 motorway for several weeks.