The results of an accident that occurred Monday, July 20 on the A7 in the Drôme, which caused the death of five children from the same family, risk of " increasing ", warned Tuesday the prefect of the department Hugues Moutouh with from AFP.
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In addition to the five children aged 3 to 14 who died Monday evening at the height of Albon, four other members of the family are currently being taken care of in hospitals in Lyon. They are three adults and a seven-year-old child. The vital prognosis is engaged for three of them, including the child. “ These are serious burns, we can imagine the worst for the four. We risk having a heavier balance sheet in the coming hours, the next few days, ”regretted Hugues Moutouh.
Several ministers attended
This tragedy struck nine members of a family from Vénissieux, in the Lyon suburbs, who were all traveling in the same minivan, before the vehicle caught fire and exited the road in a field.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin visited the site. OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE / AFP
It caused a stir as far as Brussels, where Emmanuel Macron sent " a thought for the families of the five children who were killed and the other victims who are between life and death " at the beginning of his press conference. The Interior Ministers, Gérald Darmanin and Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, went to the site on Monday evening after midnight.
The trail of the technical problem
The track of the technical problem is mentioned. " Before falling into unconsciousness, the driver of the vehicle said that he had desperately tried to brake and that the brakes were no longer responding ," reported the prefect.
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On Vinci Autoroutes videos, “ we see him heading towards the emergency lane at high speed, then there are three, four rolls. The vehicle is already on fire, and then there is a generalized conflagration following the rollovers and the vehicle is completely crushed on the roof ”.
" We are 22 killed since the beginning of the year, in the Drôme, including eight on the A7, which is important, and six in the single day yesterday, " lamented the prefect. Another accident had preceded this tragedy Monday on the same section, where the passenger of a motorcycle was killed. The president of Vinci Autoroutes Pierre Coppey, for his part, expressed his “ deep emotion ”, underlining an “ extraordinarily heavy balance sheet ”.
