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Central Office takes charge of Mari El road accident case following order of Investigative Committee’s Chairman

Investigators of the Investigative Committee keeps on looking into a traffic accident in Mari El. Criminal proceedings initiated into violation of the road code entailing death of two or more people under Part 5 of Article 164 and unsafe services entailing death of two or more people under Part 3 of Article 238 of the RF Criminal Code have been joined to form a single lawsuit.

Chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin has ordered that the Head Office (3rd department) should take over the case for thorough and impartial investigation.

As became known earlier, the traffic accident involving a truck and a Mercedes Sprinter passenger minibus driven by a 41-year-old driver happened at about 5:30 PM on 16 November 2017 at kilometer marker 64 of the highway between Yoshkar-Ola and Kozmodemyansk. According to preliminary data, the driver of the minibus with 18 passengers aboard went to the wrong side of the road when both weather and road situations were complicated. The minibus then hit the truck with the semitrailer and swerved into a ditch. 15 people were killed in the accident, 4 more, including 3 minors, suffered a range of injuries and were taken to hospital.

Necessary examinations and investigative operations are underway.

 

Spokesperson for the Investigative Committee                                                                                        Svetlana Petrenko