The survey yielded answers.
The car accident that claimed the lives of five children on Monday evening on the A7 in the Drôme was caused by the breakdown of the vehicle's turbo, causing the engine to run away and then catch fire, the prosecutor's office reported on Wednesday.
"In his preliminary report, the legal expert in mechanics concluded that the turbo was broken, which caused a runaway and then the fire of the engine and even perhaps of the passenger compartment", told AFP the Valence prosecutor Alex Perrin, confirming information from BFM TV.
A failure that neutralizes any possibility of braking
"The driver was then in the virtual impossibility of stopping the engine, because the failure neutralizes all the braking assistance systems, from where a feeling of a braking which does not work" evoked by the driver before quitting. 'he does not lose consciousness. For its part, the Departmental Road Safety Squadron (EDSR) Isère - to which the investigation was entrusted - told AFP that the vehicle dated from 2005.
According to him, a technical inspection should have been carried out last May, but following the confinement, the State granted a modification of the deadlines making this inspection mandatory in the fall. "There is therefore no subject on technical control, no offense on it," said the EDSR.
Four people still in the hospital
The accident on Monday evening struck nine members of a family from Vénissieux, in the Lyon suburbs, and the Paris region, aboard a minivan which caught fire before making an exit from the road and then several barrels in a field near the town of Albon.
In addition to the five children aged 3 to 14 who died, four other members of the family, including a 7-year-old child and two adults with a vital prognosis, are currently being taken care of in hospitals in Lyon.
- Accident
- A7
- Valence
- Society