In the area, no one remembers an accident with such a terrible human toll. On the night of Sunday to Monday in Saône, four men suddenly lost their lives at the end of a straight road, following a high-speed exit from the road.
Three Brazilians and a Cape Verdean aged between 32 and 54 were in the wrecked Volkswagen. Three of the victims died instantly, autopsies confirmed. The fourth, too seriously injured, did not survive very long. “The injuries observed were far too serious and were beyond any therapeutic recourse,” summarizes the public prosecutor of Besançon, Étienne Manteaux.
Festive evening in a leisure complex
“The toxicological samples taken from the driver indicate a blood alcohol level of 1.26 g/l,” the prosecutor said. The police investigation made it possible to trace the course of their evening. The four deceased were about to return home, in Saône, when the trajectory of the car drifted, hitting and cutting in two a tree one meter in diameter. “The investigations show that the speed recorded on the speedometer, 180 km/h, corresponded to the speed at which the vehicle was traveling at the time of impact,” confirmed Étienne Manteaux.
The four occupants of the Volkswagen had just spent a festive evening in a leisure complex in Chateaufarine, in Besançon, an establishment equipped with a bar that they left around midnight. The car, embedded in a fence, away from the road, was not discovered by a motorist until 1:30 in the morning. “It is possible that the accident occurred earlier, around 00:35, the time at which a witness heard a loud noise,” notes the prosecutor.
A video filmed just before the accident
The Saône road tragedy had a major impact in Brazil, where several media outlets widely relayed the information. One of them broadcast a video apparently filmed in the car, shortly before the crash. This document had been sent in real time by one of the victims to one of his relatives. In the image, the four men seemed in a very joyful mood, smiling and singing happily in the passenger compartment. Without imagining for a single moment that the worst was yet to come.
