DUI Likely Cause of Horrific Sofia Crash, Driver Charged

The serious traffic accident occurred around 8:20 pm on Wednesday at the bus stop in front of the "The Mall" shopping center on Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd. Photo by BGNES

The taxi cab driver who caused the horrific crash on Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd in Sofia late on Wednesday had been driving under the influence of alcohol.

The Deputy Chief of the Traffic Police in the capital, Ivo Pisanov, told Darik radio Thursday that the Breathalyzer administered last evening registered a 1.8 per mille alcohol level. The results from the blood test are expected later in the day.

One of the witnesses at the scene also told Darik that the driver had been visibly drunk.

Pisanov says 1.8 per mille is a very serious alcohol content, stressing this was the most serious traffic incident in Sofia in the last years.

According to the police chief, the driver, identified as Mihail Kurtev, 35, did not have any registered traffic violations in the last 15 years and all his documents were in order.

He explained traffic police deals seriously with all taxi cab drivers as they transport dozens of people each day. Prevention police operations with checks of documents, technical state of the vehicles and of the drivers are being conducted on regular basis.

A tragic incident in 2012, when a taxi cab killed two women on a pedestrian crossing in Sofia, revealed that the driver had been working for years without a driver's license and permit to operate a taxi cab. He also had over 50 recorded traffic violations.

Meanwhile, another driver, speaking off-the-record, told the Cross news agency that his colleague, Mihail Kurtev, had alcohol-related problems some years ago.

He explained that it was very easy to become a taxi cab driver as the only required documents are proof of lack of criminal record, a psychiatric test, and a driver's license.

"We are banned from working for over 8 hours, but we do work for 15 because we have families to feed," he stressed.

Meanwhile, the Transport Minister, Danail Papazov, ordered a full probe in the crash.

The serious traffic accident occurred around 8:20 pm on Wednesday at the bus stop in front of the "The Mall" shopping center on Tsarigradsko Shose Blvd.

A taxi heading for the city center suffered a flat tire, spun out of control, and rammed into a bus stop full of people, leaving 12 injured. Kurtev had been speeding, according to traffic police.

The taxi driver was detained by the police. He has been very calm and composed during the interrogation, the Bulgarian National Radio reports. It has been also confirmed that Kurtev had been convicted for drunk driving 15 years ago. The prosecution has already pressed charges against him.

A woman aged around 25 died in hospital after the horrific crash. She was taken to the Sveta Anna hospital with a cervical fracture and doctors were unable to save her.

A six-year-old child with a head trauma and a rupture of the intestinal tract continues to be in critical condition; the mother has been stabilized.

A 27-year-old man with a pelvic fracture has undergone surgery and has had his spleen removed at the Pirogov hospital.

A 28-year-old woman with a light head trauma remains in hospital for checkups.

A 60-year-old man with a bone fracture of his right foot has refused admission to hospital and has been released after the application of the cast.

A 43-year-old woman with two broken ribs and injuries to the right wrist and the right foot, and a 34-year-old woman with injuries to both feet and the left wrist, have been released from hospital.

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