The accident, which involved three cars and a lorry, took place at around 3.30am in the direction of Lyon-Montpellier, near Roquemaure, according to the fire brigade.
Three men, an 83-year-old from the Gard and two residents from the Drôme region, aged 37 and 31, died. A medical and psychological emergency team treated a 50-year-old man and a 16-year-old teenager who were left in shock. The driver of the lorry, a 25-year-old man, was not injured, the fire brigade said.
“The accident was caused by the 83-year-old driver travelling the wrong way on the motorway,” Colonel Didier Ressayre, second-in-command of the Gard Gendarmerie, told AFP.
Authorities were able to re-establish traffic on a single lane around 9.45am, according to operator Vinci Autoroutes, who also warned that holiday departures on Saturday might be disrupted owing to “ongoing emergency repairs at the site of the accident.”
