After the fatal accident involving a Flixbus near Leipzig, in which four people died, the head of the bus company that arranged the trip for Flixbus points out the responsibility of the deceased passengers. “It’s bad, but I have to say it: if those people had worn their seat belts, everyone would still be alive,” he says in the German newspaper Image.
After five days it is still not clear how the accident that left four dead and 35 injured could have happened. Pavel Steiner (54), the boss of the bus company Umbrella Mobility, which operated the Berlin-Zürich line on behalf of Flixbus, gives his version of the facts in the German newspaper Image.
“It’s an incredible tragedy, I’m devastated. We had an experienced man at the wheel, the bus was the most modern available and had been inspected in January, and yet four people died,” says Steiner, who is critical of the victims. “It’s bad, but I have to say it: if people had worn their seat belts, everyone would still be alive.”
However, it has become clear that Umbrella Mobility is not without controversy. In October last year, a company bus driver was pulled over with a blood alcohol content of 2.4 per mille. A former employee mentioned the company’s fleet in the Hamburger Morgenpost “an absolute disaster”. “Some buses drive around without a route number, others only have a cardboard sign on the front instead of a display and some even drive without lights at night.”
The 62-year-old driver who was involved in the accident last Wednesday says he remembers nothing about the incident. “He was unconscious and remembers nothing about the accident,” says Steiner, noting that the man was rested and had just had five days off before the accident.
Based on the technical data, Steiner can rule out that the driver fell asleep, writes Image. “The bus had all the auxiliary systems, nothing indicates that.” The man is also said not to have made any phone calls during the ride.
The Flixbus was en route from Berlin to Zurich, with a planned stopover in Leipzig. However, at around 9.45 am, for an unknown reason, the bus left the carriageway of the A9 motorway between Wiedemar and Schkeuditzer Kreuz, shortly before an exit. The bus crashed into a bush and ended up on its side.
The police and the public prosecutor’s office in Germany have opened an investigation for manslaughter by negligence and bodily harm by negligence. The driver faces a prison sentence of five years.
