The La Rochelle public prosecutor's office has just made its final indictment in the Rochefort school bus accident (Charente-Maritime) which killed six people in 2016. The Eiffage company was not blamed but the driver of the truck is referred to the criminal court for manslaughter and unintentional injury.
On the morning of February 11, 2016 in Rochefort, the coach crossed at around 7.15 am the road of a dump truck, which left an Eiffage warehouse 800 meters away.
The side of the coach had been sheared by the open side of the truck, killing six of the fifteen teenagers on board, five high school students and a middle school student.
Two others were injured.
This is one of the most serious child transport accidents to have occurred in France since the Beaune tragedy in 1982 (53 deaths including 44 children).
"Not enough elements to lead to prosecution" against Eiffage
A few days after the accident, the then 23-year-old truck driver was indicted for manslaughter and unintentional injury, and left free under judicial supervision.
Eiffage, for its part, was indicted at the end of 2020 for manslaughter.
The prosecution finally requested a dismissal for the company Eiffage, owner of the dump truck, "because there are not enough elements to lead to prosecution", explained the prosecutor Laurent Zuchowicz.
"The parties have two months to submit their observations," added the prosecutor.
The drop side open in an "unusual and dangerous" position
The technical investigations, and in particular the reconstruction of the facts a few days after the tragedy, focused on this side wall (the rear metal wall holding the load in place).
According to the prosecution at the time, this drop side was open at 90 degrees and not fully at the time of the collision, an "unusual and dangerous" position, and it seems for a while.
Shortly before, a motorist had to swerve to avoid it.
It was still dark at the time of the impact, it was drizzling, and the driver only saw the drop side open at the last moment: the impact had exploded his windshield, stopping the coach which had continued its course a little under the effect of inertia.
The accident shocked the town of Rochefort and that of Surgères, 25 km away, where the six victims, five high school students and a schoolboy aged 15 to 18, were attending school.
Miscellaneous
Rochefort: The report of the investigation office points to the absence of a warning device in the accident between a bus and a dump truck
Bordeaux
Rochefort: More than an hour of reconstruction to understand the drama
Poitou-Charentes
Aquitaine
La Rochelle
Teenager
Truck
Court
Accident
Justice
Society