Bus carrying tourists came down to ditch: 17 people dead and 19 injured

On December 17 bus accident in the region of Crimea in Ukraine resulted in the deaths of 17 people.

19 more people are injured and have been taken to the hospital in the town of Alushta. The youngest of the victims of the accident is 16 years old.

There were 33 coal miner workers of Pavlogradugol company, two guides and two drivers on the bus. They were heading for Alushta to spend their holiday in the sanatorium.

The accident happened on 41 kilometer of the road Simferopol – Yalta – Sebastopol, near the turn to Izobilnoe village.

According to Valery Shalamov, the person on operational duty for emergency situations and civic defense of the people of Crimea, at 8:40 pm of local time the bus lost the control   and came down to the ditch.

The accident happened because of the brakes failure or breaking the wheel tire, the exact information will be known only after the expertise is conducted. Meanwhile, the Information Center of the State Department for Monitoring Measures for Protection of Labor reported that the preliminary data demonstrate the accident happened because of the breaking of the right back wheel of the bus.

Later the investigation discovered that the bus had brakes failure. The bus driver, resident of Pavlograd born in 1967, was not injured. He jumped out of the bus window, while the bus came down to the deep ditch at the mountain road and turned upside.

The driver is detained by the police until the investigation of the accident is finished. 

Five of the victims of the accident are in critical condition, the other two are in bad condition, all the rest feel satisfactory, Ministry on Emergency Situations reported.

The bodies of the killed have been transported to Alushta’s mortuary. According to the Deputy Head of Traffic Police Department, most of the killed have not been identified, the process of  their identification continues.

Investigators and traffic police specialists are working in the accident scene.

The police started a criminal case and investigation on the accident, Deputy Head of the Traffic Police Department of Inferior Ministry of the Ukraine Igor Matusevich said.

According to him, the two buses belonging to a private company in Pavlograd were hired to take the coal miners to the Crimea for holidays. The second Carosa bus produce in Czech Reoublic had an accident.

Matusevich said that the preliminary data of the investigation revealed that the technical condition of the vehicles were controlled by the drivers, not by their owners. This could be one of the causes of the tragedy.

Six people killed in the accident have already been identified

Six people being on the bus and killed in the accident have already been identified, Permanent Representative of Ukrainian President in the Crimea Alexander Didenko said.

According to him, the government of the Crimea established special commission on providing assistance to the victims of the accident and their relatives. The mayor of Pavlograd arrived in Alushta and along with the government of the Crimea is providing assistance to the victims of the accident and their relatives.  

There is a special phone number in Alushta’s hospital and government which provides information to the relatives of the victims.

Health Care Minister of the Crimea Sergei Donich reported that all the victims undergo medical treatment and there is enough medicine for them. Some medicine are being brought from the Republic Central Clinic named after Semashko. Donich said that Health Care Minister of the Ukraine Andrei Pedaev promised to provide assistance as well.

According to the Crimean Minister, currently no victim can be transported because of health problems, many are being treated министра, все пострадавшие являются нетранспортабельными, многих выводят из шока.

In the town of Pavlograd, December 18 was announced the day of the mourning the coal miners of Pavlogradugol company killed in the accident.

Source: http ://www .newsru .com /world /18Dec 2003/crash .html