Benjamin Peter, edited by Yanis Darras 06:04, September 18, 2022
In 2017, in the town of Millas, a collision between a TER and a school bus at a level crossing left six dead and many injured.
This Monday before the criminal court of Marseille opens the trial of Nadine, the driver of this school bus.
A trial which should make it possible to understand what led to this accident.
It was a disaster that had moved all of France.
It is a little after 4 p.m. on December 14, 2017 when a school bus enters the level crossing.
A TER traveling at 90 km/h then hits it at high speed.
Six 6th grade children returning home to the surrounding village were killed and 17 others were injured.
Some are left severely disabled.
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Unanswered questions
Faced with the driver prosecuted for homicide and unintentional injuries before the criminal court, 123 civil parties will try to obtain answers.
With a question that will remain at the center of the debates, was the barrier closed or open as she affirms and repeats at each hearing.
If that barrier was closed, would she have been able to see it?
From her cockpit and given the maneuver to be performed, could she have forced the level crossing without realizing it, as a report from the accident investigation office suggested?
Up to three years in prison
The trial is due to last three weeks in Marseille, one of only two centers in France specializing in collective accidents.
But the debates will be broadcast in full in Perpignan at the Palais des Congrès in a room that can accommodate 200 people.
Nadine, the 52-year-old driver, faces a three-year prison sentence and the deliberation is not expected before December.