Fourth fatality identified after bus accident in Germany
Published: Tuesday, Apr 2nd 2024, 13:20
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Just under a week after the serious bus accident on the German autobahn A9 near Leipzig, the identity of the fourth fatality has also been established.
The victim is a 43-year-old woman from Ukraine, as the spokesman for the Leipzig public prosecutor's office, Ricardo Schulz, announced on Tuesday in response to an inquiry. The double-decker Flixbus with 54 people on board left the road last Wednesday on its way from Berlin to Zurich and crashed onto its side.
Four women died, including a 47-year-old Polish woman, a 20-year-old Indonesian woman living in Berlin and a 19-year-old woman from Bavaria. 30 other people were injured, some of them seriously.
The public prosecutor's office is investigating the bus driver. The 62-year-old is accused of involuntary manslaughter and negligent bodily harm. The spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office was unable to say whether the man had already been questioned. He was also unable to provide any more concrete information on the cause of the accident. "Everything is being turned on its head", emphasized Schulz.
The serious accident has also reignited the debate about compulsory seatbelts in coaches. According to the Association of Central German Bus Companies, however, this is difficult to enforce. The association's head, Mario König, told "MDR Aktuell" on Tuesday that the drivers do point this out at the start of the journey and after breaks, and there are signs at the seats. However, it is simply not feasible for bus drivers to carry out checks.
A spokesperson for the Dresden police added that it is more difficult to catch seatbelt offenders on the bus. Checks are usually carried out on sight as you drive past. Technical possibilities are also limited. A sensor for unbuckled seat belts, as is often installed in modern cars, would theoretically be possible, but would raise the alarm every time a passenger went to the toilet. This technology is therefore impractical, as it is in airplanes.
When asked on Tuesday, the spokesman for the Leipzig public prosecutor's office said that the investigation was also looking into whether the passengers on the bus were wearing seat belts.
©Keystone/SDA
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