Two people were killed and 27 others injured in a pile-up involving some 40 vehicles on the motorway near Würzburg, in Germany's Bavaria region, authorities said on Monday
In a separate accident, three people were killed and four remain in hospital with life threatening injuries after a 40-year-old man ploughed into oncoming traffic on a state road in Lower Saxony, authorities said on Monday.
Both accidents occurred on Sunday.
In Bavaria, a 52-year-old woman and a two-year-old child died at the scene, while another child had to be taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, a police spokesman said.
Authorities said the motorway had to be fully closed in the direction of Nuremberg until early on Monday following three accidents on a wet stretch of road within a short period on Sunday afternoon.
According to authorities, the first chain of crashes involving 17 cars occurred at around 4 pm (1500 GMT), when some drivers distracted by a damaged vehicle at the side of the road crashed into one another.
Two people were seriously injured and nine others suffered minor injuries as a result.
Immediately afterwards, several hundred metres behind, more cars piled into stopping vehicles. As a result, three vehicles caught fire.
The woman and the small child died, while three people were seriously injured - including the child with the life-threatening injuries - and 11 people were slightly injured.
Around half an hour later, there was another accident at the end of the traffic jam, also involving three vehicles. This resulted in two minor injuries.
The police, fire brigade and emergency services were deployed in large numbers. According to the Bavarian Red Cross, three rescue helicopters landed on the motorway.
In Lower Saxony in Emstek, police said the middle-aged man drove his car into oncoming traffic on a state road and collided head on with a car, ramming into the rear of another.
A total of eight people were injured. The front seat passenger of the oncoming car as well as the three passengers in the car that caused the accident reportedly suffered life-threatening injuries.
