Pothole Damage Blamed for Bulgaria Hellish Bus Crash

Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev has rejected allegations that the bus crash on the Trakia highway was caused by a pothole, saying that they are part of an opposition blame game. Photo by BGNES

Pothole damage may have caused the June 15 horrific bus crash on the Trakia highway, according to experts.

According to the latest account of the traffic accident, a pothole measuring 40 x 3-4 cm may have ruptured the back tyre of the bus.

An inspection of the accident scene has shown that the bus swerved towards the road railing after it hit the hole, leaving tyre tracks over 40cm long.

"This is not a highway but a dirt road! At a speed of 100km/h, the bus, loaded with , NApassengers and baggage, must have hit the road crack very hard", says Nedelcho Todorov, a longtime driving instructor.

"I deeply doubt it that the road section of the Trakia highway where the bus crash occurred had a cracking because I was given assurances by the maintenance companies that the first-class highways and roads have no potholes", Regional Development Minister Rosen Plevneliev told journalists.

In his words, if there had been such a road imperfection, the experts should have reported it and included it among the possible causes of the accident.

Plevneliev said that the pothole hypothesis was part of a sustained smear campaign organized by "certain opposition parties" based on the Trakia highway.

The Minister reminded of previous allegations that the highway was built off substandard foundations and urged a non-politicized treatment of both the accident and the pothole issue.

The expert analyses assigned by the Prosecutor's Office of the technical condition of the killer bus will be ready no earlier than 20 days.

Apart from that, the results of numerous court-ordered medical examinations of the victims will also be handed in.

"The investigation is ongoing, the expert analyses are yet to be concluded, which means that it is too early to come up with any whatsoever versions about the accident", said Todor Chonov, head of the police department in Plovdiv.

The narcotics probe of the 43-year old driver Svetoslav Dimitrov is due on Friday.

Dimitrov has been detained for 72 hours, facing charges of multiple manslaughter.

The hypothesis that he fell asleep behind the wheel is about to be discarded because both witness accounts and road tracks indicate that the driver tried to take control of the bus.

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