Two Soldiers Aged 21 and 22 Died on the A1 After Stopping to Help a Lorry Driver With a Burst Tyre
The two men were travelling back from a week building a military bridge in Sao Pedro do Sul when they pulled over at kilometre 204. Both were struck by another vehicle and died in hospital in Coimbra. The Army has opened an inquiry.
Two soldiers of the Exército Português (Portuguese Army), aged 21 and 22, were killed on Friday morning after stopping on the A1 motorway to help the driver of a lorry whose tyre had burst. Both were struck by another vehicle as they stood at the roadside, and both were pronounced dead at the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra (Coimbra University Hospital Centre) after arriving in critical condition.
The Army said the deaths followed an incident at around 9.30am at kilometre 204 of the A1, on the northbound carriageway beside a motorway service area in the Mealhada and Cantanhede stretch. The two men were travelling in convoy back to their unit after spending the week in São Pedro do Sul assembling a military bridge. They pulled over, on their own initiative, when they saw the immobilised heavy goods vehicle.
What the Army has said
The Exército confirmed both deaths in a statement on Friday and said it had opened an inquiry to establish the circumstances of the accident. It withheld names, ranks and unit while families were being notified, and activated its family support mechanisms, including psychological counselling.
The Ministério da Defesa Nacional (Ministry of National Defence) offered condolences to the families and to the armed forces. President António José Seguro, who is Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said the two men had shown "the noblest values of service, courage and solidarity" by voluntarily going to the aid of a vehicle in difficulty.
The lorry driver's son later published a public message of thanks to the Army, alongside condolences to the two families.
Traffic was disrupted while emergency services worked at the scene and restored later in the day. The GNR (Republican National Guard), which polices Portugal's motorways, is handling the road-traffic investigation.
The wider picture
The deaths land in a year in which Portugal's road toll has stopped improving. Just a week ago the President warned that the country cannot treat road deaths as fate, citing close to 300 people killed on Portuguese roads so far in 2026. Longer-run data show Portugal's fatalities barely fell over a decade while the rest of Europe cut its toll by around a fifth.
A person on foot beside a live carriageway is among the hardest casualties to protect. The government's draft revision of the Código da Estrada (Highway Code) leans mainly on speed, proposing to make driving above 180 km/h a crime and to rebuild the GNR's dedicated traffic brigade.
What this means for you
- If you break down on a motorway in Portugal: pull onto the hard shoulder, switch on hazard lights, put on the reflective vest before leaving the car, place the warning triangle at least 30 metres behind, and then wait behind the safety barrier, not beside the vehicle. Call 112, or use the SOS posts spaced along concession motorways.
- If you stop to help someone else: Portuguese law expects assistance, but on a motorway the safest help is usually a phone call rather than a body on the tarmac.
- If you are driving past: the legal obligation is to slow down and, where a lane is free, move over. On a two-lane carriageway with people at the verge, that single decision is the difference this accident turned on.
Two young men in uniform stopped for a stranger on a Friday morning and did not go home. The Army's inquiry, and the GNR's, will now try to establish why the vehicle that hit them did not see them in time.
