Almost a week after the serious bus accident on the A9 near Leipzig, the identity of the fourth fatality has also been determined. It is a 43-year-old woman from Ukraine, as the spokesman for the Leipzig public prosecutor’s office, Ricardo Schulz, said upon request.
The double-decker Flixbus with 54 people on board left the road on Autobahn 9 last Wednesday and fell onto its side. Four women died, including a 47-year-old Polish woman, a 20-year-old Indonesian woman living in Berlin and a 19-year-old from Bavaria. 30 other people were injured, some seriously.
The public prosecutor’s office is investigating the bus driver. The 62-year-old is accused of negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm. The public prosecutor’s spokesman could not say whether the man had already been questioned. He was also unable to provide any more specific information about the cause of the accident. “Everything is being turned upside down,” emphasized Schulz.
Seat belt requirement difficult to control
The serious accident has also reignited the discussion about the requirement to wear seat belts in coaches. According to the Association of Central German Bus Companies, this is difficult to enforce. The drivers would point this out when starting the journey and after breaks, and there are signs at the places, said association boss Mario König on Tuesday “MDR Aktuell”. However, checking is simply not possible for the bus driver.
A spokesman for the Dresden police added that those who refuse to wear a seatbelt on the bus are harder to catch. The check is usually carried out on sight when you drive past. Technical possibilities are also limited. A sensor for unplugged belts, as is often installed in modern cars, would be theoretically possible, but it would sound an alarm every time the passenger goes to the toilet. Therefore, like in airplanes, this technology is not practical.
When asked, the spokesman for the Leipzig public prosecutor’s office said that the investigation also focused on whether the passengers were wearing seatbelts on the bus.
