72-hour detention for the driver who caused the fatal crash on Trakia Motorway

The driver of the truck that caused the severe crash on the Trakia Motorway, resulting in three deaths, has been detained for 72 hours. The prosecution will request that he be remanded in custody.

Two children from youth football academy die in road accident at Trakia Highway

A pre-trial investigation has been launched, and the driver has already been charged with a serious violation of road traffic regulations.

According to district prosecutor Zhivko Iliev, the exact cause of the tragic incident is still to be established. He ruled out the possibility of a tyre blowout, but an expert examination of the crash barriers that the truck tore through and struck head-on is still pending.

A triple forensic expertise has been ordered. The driver has over 20 prior traffic violations, and two years ago he caused another accident on the Trakia Motorway with the same trailer.

The truck’s tachograph has been seized in order to determine his rest periods and how long he had been driving.

Further technical analyses are also underway. Initial findings suggest the vehicle was not speeding and that the driver was not asleep at the wheel, as some earlier theories suggested. At the time of the crash, the truck was empty, as it had been en route to Burgas in the morning.

The 53-year-old driver is from the Yambol region and is known to traffic police authorities. Under the charge of causing death by negligence, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

Two nine-year-old children, football players from the youth academy of PFC Slavia Sofia, and the father of one of them died in the crash. Two others, a 46-year-old man and a 49-year-old woman, were seriously injured.

Report: Stoyan Radev, correspondent of BNR in Sliven

Editor: R. Petkova