How the case over the crash on the Trakia motorway ends depends on the evidence. Investigator Yasen Todorov of the National Investigation Service (NIS) says both outcomes are possible: "It may end with no one charged, but it may also end with several people charged." The truck driver has not been charged so far because there is not enough evidence, but that could change.
The NIS took over the case on Tuesday. The acting prosecutor general ordered the move in a decree, and prosecutors say the case is unusually complex in both fact and law.
On Tuesday, 10 November, 10 investigators and 3 forensic officers with a mobile laboratory were working at the scene, and investigators were carrying out a repeat drone inspection ahead of an automotive expert examination.
Twelve people died in the crash. Fewer than 51 were probably injured, but there is no exact count because some people were moved between hospitals and the data is duplicated.
Todorov went in person to the hospitals in Sliven and Yambol and took all the medical records of the injured, which are needed for the forensic medical examinations. He has asked the other hospitals for records too, but not all have arrived yet. He has also contacted the hospital in Burgas. This morning he spoke with the head of the Military Medical Academy (VMA), Gen. Ventsislav Mutafchiyski, because two of the injured are being treated there.
There will be about 50 forensic medical examinations. A forensic doctor from Sliven carried out the autopsies on all the dead, and Todorov thanked her. Most examinations of the injured have already been ordered. The rest will be ordered next week, when the main information is expected to be in.
Investigators are now collecting documents for a road-construction expert report and a vehicle-technical report. The second will draw data from various technical devices. They have asked for footage from all cameras, and each vehicle has its own file covering the car, its owner, the driver and the passengers. Many witnesses have already been questioned. Some will be questioned again, and all questioning must finish within a month. Todorov explained that people were under stress and do not always see what happened objectively, so the investigation relies heavily on data from technical devices. He asked the media to help find more witnesses.
Todorov would not say what has been established so far, because it is covered by investigation secrecy. Investigators are working on all versions, and none leads until one of them is ruled out. Todorov said the fog matters, but the investigation is about what each driver did. He said the crash was in effect a series of many smaller crashes, and he has never had a similar case. He pointed to the bus crash on the Struma motorway, where many more people died but only one vehicle was involved. Marian Marinov, who now acts as director of the NIS, led that case.
"There are no rules for investigating this kind of accident," Marinov said. He said the cars kept shifting after each impact, and later impacts changed the picture left by earlier ones. He gave no date by which it will be clear how the crash happened, because that depends on the expert reports, which take time. The forensic medical reports will be ready first, and their speed depends on the forensic doctors. The combined forensic medical and vehicle-technical report comes next. Only after that will investigators decide whether each driver broke the rules. There is no deadline for the whole investigation, because it does not depend on the investigator alone.
Marinov also said some of the injured may turn out to have caused the crash. If they are drivers who died, the case against them will be closed. Todorov said charges will follow if enough evidence is gathered for a culpable traffic offence, and will not if it is not.
Todorov picks the experts. Marinov said investigators are relying on known experts with a proven record, who have worked well with them on other cases. Todorov praised the police officers, firefighters, investigating police and emergency medics in Yambol and Sliven. He said the services reacted properly, so the number of victims is as low as possible.
Todorov promised an objective, thorough and complete investigation. He added that it is neither serious nor lawful to make guesses now. When the case ends, he will explain to the public how it ended. He said he is responsible for the investigation and the expert reports, and if there are failings, he will answer for them.