Several people were injured, three of them seriously, after a car veered off a residential road in northwestern Germany, crashed through a garden where it struck a child playing on a trampoline, and ultimately became airborne, landing on the roof of a nearby barn. The unusual and dangerous sequence unfolded in the town of Bohmte on the afternoon of July 20, and has drawn attention due to both the number of people affected and the dramatic final position of the car.

Germany

According to regional authorities and emergency responders, the crash occurred around midday when a family vehicle driven by a 42-year-old man left the road for reasons that are still under investigation. Local police said the vehicle first collided with a parked car, then broke through a hedge lining a private yard, before entering the garden of a neighboring home.

In that garden, the vehicle struck a seven-year-old boy who had been playing on a trampoline. The child sustained serious injuries and was transported to a hospital by helicopter. The force of the crash—combined with uneven ground in the garden—appears to have launched the car into the air, propelling it an estimated three meters off the ground. Witnesses reported that moments later the vehicle came to rest, lodged partly into the roof of a nearby barn.

Helicopter

“It looked like a scene from a movie,” said a resident of the area who declined to be named. “We ran outside after hearing the crash and couldn’t believe it—the car was just perched there in the roof.”

Inside the car were the driver, his wife, their two sons aged 11 and 12, and a 13-year-old passenger. According to first responders, the driver and his wife were both seriously injured in the incident. Their children and the 13-year-old sustained only minor injuries but were taken to hospital for observation as a precaution.

Hospital

The scale of the emergency response underscored the severity and surprise of the situation. Rescue officials deployed over a dozen ambulances and two rescue helicopters to the scene. More than 30 firefighters were involved in the extraction effort, which required cutting into the roof of the barn to assess the structural integrity and to retrieve both the car and its occupants.

Helicopter
Firefighter

The car itself was eventually removed using a crane. Images from the site showed a lengthy crack where the structure of the barn had buckled under the weight of the vehicle. The trampoline, visibly mangled in photos taken by emergency staff, lay flattened in the garden area, just meters from the impact point.

Crane

“It is very fortunate that more people were not hurt,” said a spokesperson for the local fire brigade. “The dynamics of the accident were unusual, and things could have gone much worse under slightly different circumstances.”

Fire brigade

Police have launched an investigation to determine the precise cause of the crash. Preliminary reports indicated that no other vehicles were actively involved just prior to the vehicle leaving the road. Investigators are expected to examine factors including speed, mechanical condition of the vehicle, and possible driver impairment.

Investigation
Driver impairment

As of Monday, the child remained in hospital in serious but stable condition, according to a statement from local medical authorities. The identities of those involved have not been released, in line with German privacy regulations.

Hospital
German privacy regulations

Though rare, airborne vehicle accidents have occurred in Germany in the past—typically in incidents involving high-speed roadway exits or collisions with sloped terrain. But a crash like this, in a quiet residential setting and with such vertical trajectory, remains exceptional.

Germany

“Something like this is not what you’d ever expect to see in a community like ours,” said another local resident. “We’re all just relieved that the boy survived and hoping for a full recovery for everyone involved.”