Five years after the collapse of the Mirepoix-sur-Tarn bridge (Haute-Garonne), the Toulouse criminal court tried to find answers on Tuesday about the responsibilities for the tragedy which left two dead, including a teenager.
At the hearing, the mother of the young deceased said she expected “a lot from this trial, for justice to define the responsibility(s)”.
On November 18, 2019, a truck weighing nearly 60 tonnes took the bridge spanning the Tarn river designed to support a maximum load of 19 tonnes.
The building had given way, dragging the exceptional convoy into the river, as well as the car containing a 15-year-old girl and her mother. The latter managed to reach the bank, but her daughter was killed, as was the truck driver, aged 38.
– “Clearly deliberate violation” –
“How in this day and age can you die crossing a bridge to go to school?” asked the mother of the deceased teenager, who that day was taking her to take the bus to go to the vocational high school.
Shortly after the tragedy, a judicial investigation was opened, notably for homicide and involuntary injuries.
The bridge was “absolutely not capable of supporting a truck with a load of 58 tonnes”, declared the expert responsible for rendering his conclusions to the criminal court. Clear signage indicated that the tonnage was limited to 19 tonnes.
In the absence of the deceased driver, only the drilling company Puits Julien which he managed and which is now placed in liquidation appeared as a legal entity, alongside the vehicle's insurer, Allianz.
The public prosecutor pointed to “a clearly deliberate violation of an obligation provided for by law or regulation”, also provided for by the judicial information. He requested the maximum penalty incurred by a legal entity in this type of case, namely a fine of 75,000 euros.
– “In three seconds” –
The civil parties insisted on the consequences of the tragedy which took place “in three seconds”, according to the mother's lawyer, Me Marie Bellen-Rotger.
“I feel deep guilt, survivor's guilt, at the same time it is not logical to survive your child,” the mother testified before the Toulouse court.
“I sometimes look for my daughter everywhere in my dreams,” she added.
During her plea, her lawyer addressed her client: “You are not guilty,” she insisted, staring into her eyes.
The young girl's paternal grandmother also testified, her voice trembling, to bring to life the memory of the teenager's father, who “died of grief” in her words in October 2023.
– “Five years I've been waiting” –
“I have been waiting for five years to be able to say my words, and in a courtroom it is important because I spoke directly to the justice system,” the mother further underlined.
The structure, a metal structure dating from 1931, had been inspected two years previously and then was the subject of an inspection visit in December 2018, less than a year before the accident.
The hypothesis of a breach of surveillance procedures was ruled out on the very day of the accident by the Departmental Council. This was confirmed Tuesday at the hearing.
Following the collapse of the Genoa viaduct (Italy) in August 2018, a senatorial report pointed out in June 2019 the worrying state of “at least 25,000 road bridges” in France, just before the Mirepoix accident. sur-Tarn.
The judgment was reserved until December 5.
