BUDAPEST, Aug 18 (Reuters) – A Hungarian court on Tuesday ordered the continued detention of a Polish bus driver suspected of falling asleep at the wheel, resulting in a crash that killed 12 people and injured dozens in eastern Hungary early on Sunday.
A Polish bus carrying 57 pilgrims ran into a ditch and tipped over at around 1 a.m. on Sunday in eastern Hungary, in an accident that a survivor described as “unimaginable”.
Twelve people died at the scene or after being taken to hospital, three sustained life-threatening injuries and 20 others were seriously hurt, prosecutors said.
Police took the driver into custody and questioned him on suspicion of negligently causing a road accident resulting in mass fatalities. He did not make a statement, they said.
DISTRICT COURT ORDERS DRIVER’S DETENTION FOR A MONTH
“According to the current state of the investigation … the driver was incapable of safely operating the vehicle, he fell asleep due to fatigue,” prosecutors said in a statement as they requested the continued detention of the driver.
Under Hungarian law, a suspect may be held in custody for a maximum of 72 hours without a court order, so prosecutors requested that he be placed in pre-trial detention, citing concerns that he might flee or interfere with the ongoing investigation.
The Miskolc district court told state news agency MTI on Tuesday that they ordered the detention of the driver for one month.
They also said that negligently causing a road accident resulting in mass fatalities was punishable by two to eight years’ imprisonment.
The bus, which suffered the accident near the town of Mezokeresztes in eastern Hungary, was returning to Poland from a shrine to the Virgin Mary at Medjugorje in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(Reporting by Anita Komuves; Editing by David Holmes)
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