Penza, 9 March 2016. PenzaNews. The police investigators held a search in the office of the Ulyanovksk company that owned the Mercedes minibus that crashed in the tragic accident on the M5 “Ural” federal highway in the Penza region a week ago.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

“They seized the documents – drivers’ schedules, labor contracts, instruction journals, medical inspection data, pre-departure inspection notes, licenses and more. The police also questioned the management and staff of the enterprise,” Lyudmila Fomina, senior assistant of the head of the regional Investigative Committee for media relations, told PenzaNews.

The experts will scrutinize the actions of the persons responsible for safety of transportation services provided by the company, she explained.

“The investigation [of the criminal case under Part 5, Art. 264 of the Criminal Code] is held by the critical case investigation office of the regional Investigative Committee,” she pointed out.

As PenzaNews reported earlier, the tragic accident that involved a freight truck and a Mercedes minibus en route from Penza to Ulyanovsk occurred on the 665th kilometer of the M5 “Ural” federal highway in the afternoon of 2 March 2016, leaving 9 people dead – Anastasia Lazareva, 20-year-old student of the Art College, a 24-year-old pregnant woman, three women born in 1936, 1958 and 1983, and four men born in 1956, 1970, 1985 and 1990.

Three people – the two drivers and a 4-year-old boy – were hospitalized in moderately severe condition.

According to preliminary information, the minibus used summer tires and exceeded the speed limit, which caused the tragedy. In addition, the driver, an Ulyanovsk citizen, had been fined multiple times for speed limit violations.

The Penza region law enforcement forces initiated two criminal cases on the tragic incident: under Part 3, Art. 238 of the Criminal Code, “Production, Storage, Carriage or Sale of Goods and Products, Fulfillment of Works or Rendering of Services Which Do Not Meet Safety Standards,” and under Part 5, Art. 264 of the Criminal Code, “Violation of Traffic Rules and Rules for Operation of Transport Vehicles.”

In addition, the Ulyanovsk region prosecutor’s office will be investigating the company “Vektor-Argo” that owns the crashed minibus.

The Penza region authorities paid compensations of 200,000 rubles to the families of the regional citizens that died in the tragic accident.

The driver of the Mercedes minibus has been placed under arrest. He will remain in the pretrial detention center until May 2.