L‘Instruction on the terrible accident of Puisseguin, in which 43 people perished, does it end to its end? Are we heading for a trial before the criminal court or a general dismissal? Or will the instruction be relaunched by new investigations and the indictment of the manufacturer of coach Daimler Mercedes? These are the questions that the Bordeaux Court of Appeal must decide, which will make its decision on June 19.
An audience was held in front of the investigating chamber, this Thursday, April 17, behind closed doors. Almost ten years after the drama: on October 23, 2015, at 7:30 a.m., a violent collision occurred on the departmental D 17, in Puisseguin, between a heavyweight and a coach carrying 49 people. Just after the shock, everything had ignited. 41 coach passengers died, prisoners of toxic smoke and flames, as well as the truck driver and his 3 -year -old boy who accompanied him.
The survey has established that the direct cause of the accident is the excessive speed to which the truck was rolling. Its driver having died, public action has died out concerning him. The investigations continued to seek indirect causes that contributed to the damage and focused on the fire generating event. In 2021, an investigating judge of Libourne considered that no criminal responsibility was characterized and ordered a dismissal.
Two years later, the investigating chamber of the Bordeaux Court of Appeal reached this decision. For two main reasons: the conditions under which an additional fuel tank, not provided for by the manufacturer, had been installed on the heavy goods vehicle, having been able to contribute to the conflagration, and the possible knowledge by the manufacturer of the Daimler Mercedes coach of a risk in the event of a fire.
“Knowledge of a risk”
On March 2, 2023, the Court ordered an additional information, four indictments and an investment under the status of assisted witness. Since that date, Michel Aleixandre and his transport company have been indicted, SARL Aleixandre, on which depended on the heavy goods vehicle led by his son who died in the accident with his grandson, and the mechanic Pierre-Henri Corbin who has installed the additional reservoir, and his companies SAS CRETOT OUES and SASU CRETOT Rental. A manager of the design office of a subsidiary of the German coach manufacturer Daimler Mercedes is placed under the status of assisted witness.
-Over the past two years, new investigations have been carried out. Their conclusions were transmitted to the parties and it was under these conditions that all of them found themselves this Thursday for a debate on the consequences of this painful affair. The hearing lasted almost six hours.
Lawyers of the majority of civil parties – relatives of deceased or rare survivors – lawyers mes Chambolle, Pigeanne and Jan (Cabinet Mescam) pleaded for the maintenance of the indication of the mechanic Cretot, who installed the additional tank on the truck, but also for a new additional information with the indictment of the Daimler Mercedes coach manufacturer. “We believe that they were aware of a risk beyond applicable standards,” explains Mr.e Antoine Chambolle.
Standards respected
An analysis that the Advocate General has not shared. According to several sources close to the file, he requested the maintenance of the four current indictments, their referral to the criminal court and a dismissal for the employee witness to the Daimler Mercedes subsidiary, on the grounds that the standards in force had been respected.
“In the supplement of information, we had proof that the coach manufacturer was aware of a design problem,” said M.e Louis Fagniez, one of the lawyers with Me Bernard Sansot of the carrier Michel Aleixandre and his company. “Regarding the additional tank on the truck, it did not intervene in the first seconds which followed the collision. However, everything was played in the first 120 seconds, before the kiss, ”they insist, hoping for a dismissal for their client.
Solicited, a Parisian lawyer representing the employee of the Daimler Mercedes subsidiary did not wish to speak. At the end of the hearing, civil parties entrusted their “hope”. “We are disappointed by the requisitions, but we are expecting with great hope the date of June 19,” says Guillaume Buisson, vice-president of the collective of Victims of Puisseguin. This allows you to hold, after having heard and remembering everything that happened ten years ago. »»
