The Romanian driver of the truck convoy which, according to investigators, was the first to be involved in the chain collision on the Trakia motorway, said that he had not stopped on the carriageway. The 62-year-old Ion Neo told investigators that when entering the section with dense fog, he had reduced his speed to around 40-50 km/h, bTV reported.
According to his account, he then felt an impact to the rear of the truck. When he got out of the cab, he saw that a bus had crashed into it. After the first collision, he began hearing successive impacts from other vehicles that had also become involved in the chain collision.
The prosecutor’s office clarified that at this stage there is insufficient evidence indicating wrongdoing by the Romanian driver. The investigation is at a very early stage, and no charges have been brought. The driver was detained, questioned as a witness and released.
More than 50 witnesses questioned
More than 50 witnesses have been questioned in the pre-trial proceedings. Six inspections of the scene were carried out using technical equipment, including a drone. Twenty motor vehicles which investigators believe played a more significant role in the crash were seized. The truck convoy driven by the Romanian national was among them.
Samples have been taken from the road surface, and data on the weather conditions will be collected. Construction and technical, automotive and forensic medical examinations have been ordered. The pre-trial proceedings were initiated by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Yambol, while the investigation was assigned to the National Investigation Service.
Senior Commissioner Dobrin Dimitrov, director of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Interior in Yambol, said: “According to the initial information we have, suddenly, after approximately 70-80 metres, as eyewitnesses say, he was in the fog and visibility was visibly reduced. This truck most likely was travelling very slowly or may have entered from the side lane. We cannot clarify that yet.”
Road and institutions’ response under review
The District Prosecutor’s Office in Yambol has requested from the Road Infrastructure Agency all documentation concerning the commissioning and repair of the section of the Trakia motorway. The chairman of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency, Aleksandar Todorov, said that the road in the specific section was in good condition.
“The toll system is intended to charge road users, while live, real-time monitoring is not carried out,” Todorov said. According to him, a project to build information boards was halted in 2020.
Within one week, the Road Infrastructure Agency, the Ministry of Interior and the National Directorate must provide information on what data they have regarding the dangerous conditions. New mechanisms for exchanging information between the institutions are then expected to be developed. The Ministry of Transport said that the powers of the duty teams would be expanded so that they could respond preventively without waiting for a signal to emergency number 112.
Traffic on the motorway was restored at around 3 a.m., but dense fog continued to make driving difficult the following day.