Accident in Mykolaiv region leaving 12 dead: crash may have been caused by another driver who drove into oncoming traffic; he has already been located, – National Police. PHOTOS
In the Mykolaiv region, police have tracked down the driver of a crossover who is believed to have caused a road traffic accident with serious consequences.
This was reported by Censor.NET, citing the communications department of the Mykolaiv Regional Police.
Another driver may have caused the accident
The police have stated that today, 4 July, on the ‘Odesa–Melitopol–Novoazovsk’ motorway between the villages of Krasne and Nechayane, a road traffic accident occurred involving a Mercedes Sprinter passenger minibus and a Volvo lorry. According to witnesses, the accident may have been caused by a breach of the Highway Code by the driver of a Nissan Murano, who was travelling in the opposite direction to the minibus. Law enforcement officers organised a special police operation and tracked down the driver of the crossover, who is believed to have caused the accident and fled the scene.
Casualties
As a result of the collision, the 49-year-old driver and eight passengers of the minibus were killed at the scene. Nine other people – the 49-year-old lorry driver and minibus passengers aged between 15 and 67 – were taken to hospital by ambulance with injuries of varying severity.
As of 11.30 am, three more people had died in hospital.
Whilst documenting the road traffic accident and collecting physical evidence from the scene, police officers established that the driver of the Nissan had breached the Highway Code by veering into the oncoming lane, where a Mercedes Sprinter was travelling, thereby causing the accident.
"To track down the vehicle, the police organised a special operation and alerted all police crews in the region. A few hours later, on the Blahovishchenske–Mykolaiv motorway, police stopped a Nissan Murano driven by a 45-year-old man from another region," the statement reads.
The police are currently carrying out initial investigative measures. Police investigators, forensic experts and operational officers are working at the scene.
All the circumstances of the incident are being established. The issue of the legal classification of the crossover driver’s actions is being determined.
What led up to this?
Earlier reports described a tragedy on the "Odesa–Melitopol–Novoazovsk" motorway: nine people were killed and many injured in a collision involving a minibus and a lorry.
It later emerged that the death toll had risen to 12.
