PERM, August 18. /TASS/. Russian investigators and police have launched criminal cases into Saturday’s bus crash in the Urals city of Perm that left one person dead and 32 injured, the authorities said.
The Perm region department of the Russian Investigative Committee said on its website that "a criminal case was launched into a possible crime that falls under section ‘v’ part 2 of Article 238 of the Russian Criminal Code (Providing services that do not meet safety standards, which have entailed through negligence the death of a person)."
Meanwhile, the Perm Territory department of the Russian Interior Ministry said a criminal case had been launched under part 3 Article 254 of the Russian Criminal Code (Violation of traffic rules and rules for operation of transport vehicles, which, by negligence, entailed a human death).
On Saturday afternoon, the driver of a NefAZ passenger bus lost control of his vehicle, which crashed into a concrete wall. One woman was killed. According to latest updates, 32 people were taken to hospital after the accident, including ten children (nine in moderately severe condition, one in critical condition). Five adults are also in critical condition.
City mayor Dmitry Samoylov ordered the city’s transport authority to suspend the work of the transport company, Diesel, which serves six bus routes around the city and owns the ill-fated vehicle.
According to city prosecutors, last year’s inspection of the Diesel transport company revealed several irregularities, but they were all promptly fixed. Another inspection of Diesel’s work was ordered in connection with the fatal accident.
The bus driver survived the crash. He was questioned and taken to a medical examination.