The surprise is total.
The Libourne prosecutor's office is finally asking for indictments five years after the Puisseguin disaster in 2015. This coach accident remains the deadliest to have occurred in France since 1982 with 43 dead.
The investigation had so far found no criminal responsibility.
Prosecutor Olivier Kern is now asking for indictments of several companies and individuals for involuntary “homicides” and “injuries”, due to “failures” which “indirectly” contributed to the heavy toll of the tragedy.
On October 23, 2015, a collision between a truck and a bus left 43 people dead, mostly retirees, in Puisseguin.
The investigating judge announced in February 2020 the end of his investigations without having pronounced an indictment.
The speed of fire propagation raises questions
Faced with the threat of a dismissal, the family lawyers wanted in the spring to launch a judicial counter-offensive based on an element that they believe does not appear clearly in the file: the speed of the fire a few seconds after the collision.
Most of the victims were members of the club of the third age of Petit-Palais-et-Cornemps, a small neighboring town of Puisseguin.
Very little mobile, the elderly victims had been trapped in the bus and had perished, burned alive or suffocated.