Police detained a driver who may have caused an accident involving an Odessa minibus

Patrol officers in the Mykolaiv region detained the driver of a Nissan Murano crossover who may have been involved in a collision involving a shuttle bus traveling from Odesa that crashed into a truck.

According to the press service of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Mykolaiv region, witnesses reported that the crossover was traveling in the opposite direction of the minibus and violated traffic rules, and then allegedly fled the scene.

While processing the traffic accident report and collecting physical evidence from the scene, police determined that the driver of the Nissan had violated traffic rules by driving into the oncoming lane, where the Mercedes Sprinter was traveling, thereby causing the accident.

As a result of the collision between the minibus and the truck, the 49-year-old driver and eight passengers of the minibus died at the scene. Nine other people—the 49-year-old truck driver and minibus passengers ranging in age from 15 to 67—were transported to the hospital by ambulance with injuries of varying severity. As of 11:30 a.m., three more people had died at the hospital.

To locate the vehicle, police launched a special operation and alerted all police units in the region. A few hours later, on the Blagovishchenske-Mykolaiv highway, police stopped a Nissan Murano driven by a 45-year-old resident of another region.

A report that a traffic accident had occurred on the “Odesa-Melitopol-Novoazovsk” highway between the villages of Krasne and Nechayane was received on July 4 at approximately 7:40 a.m. According to preliminary data, the driver of a Mercedes Sprinter minibus, which was traveling from Odesa to Mykolaiv with passengers on board, veered off the roadway, causing the vehicle to roll over and veer uncontrollably into oncoming traffic, where it collided with a Volvo truck.

Кирило Бойко