On 15 May last year, four Czech tourists died when a car collided with a tractor inside the Steigentunnel. A total of six people were involved in the accident. Five people were in a car where four of the passengers died and the driver was badly injured. In addition, there was one driver of the tractor. The accident was the worst on Norwegian roads since 2018, and led to the National Accident Investigation Board launching a full safety analysis. The driver of the car, a man in his 80s from the Czech Republic, has still not been questioned by the police. – There are two reasons for that, says the police station chief at Fauske police station, Ronny Borge: The police have recently been informed that the man is now in a condition where he can be questioned. No court request has been sent from Norway to the Czech Republic – He must be given the opportunity to explain themselves before a decision is made in the matter. We have recently received word that he is out of hospital and is able to be questioned, continues Borge. Ronny Borge is the police station chief at Fauske police station. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news He says that the police have received all external reports about the incident, including the accident report from the Norwegian Road Administration. – We have had a lot of documents translated into Czech so that he can be questioned in his own language. But I cannot answer why the court request has not gone through yet. These died in the Steigentunnel Ladislav Mikulec, 73 years Libor Pasa, 63 years Petr S., man in his 70s. The family does not want the police to give their last name. The last deceased is a man in his late 40s. The family does not want the police to release his name. It is the prosecuting authority in Nordland that proposes the content of a court request, before it is formally sent by the state attorney – We finished the other tasks in early January, says Borge. Police prosecutor in Nordland, Maria Skog, confirms to news that the driver has not yet been questioned. – We are working on a legal request to the Czech Republic and the case is still under investigation. Maria Næss Skog is a police attorney in Nordland. Photo: Marius Guttormsen / news Skog says that it takes time and resources when you have to ask for assistance from foreign police. – The reason why it has taken a long time to complete a court request to the Czech Republic is due to several factors which necessarily have nothing to do with the specific case, but which are also due to the general workload in the police, says Skog. She adds that the police fully understand that it is stressful for those involved. Lawyer for the tractor driver: – Startling – It is quite disappointing that you cannot get the case closed for my client. So says lawyer Finn-Ove Smith. He represents the man who drove the tractor that the tourists collided with. – For my client, this is a great tragedy and he has great compassion for those who have died, but also from his point of view and his life, it would have been good to have this case closed. Lawyer Finn-Ove Smith represents the man who was driving the tractor when the accident happened. He Photo: Gisle Forland / news Smith believes the outcome of the investigation will not result in criminal proceedings against any of those involved. He is critical of the fact that the case has taken a long time to investigate, and reacts to the fact that the Czech driver has not been questioned yet. – It is terrifying. Not least because you have other people sitting and waiting. – It is quite disappointing that sending out the court request has not been prioritized. I think it is strange that this was not sent the moment he was sent to the Czech Republic. Then the formalities would have been in order. I find it startlingly slow. Stayed with Ove The five Czechs were fishing tourists and stayed with landlord Ove Strand in Stramfjorden in Steigen. – It is simply terrible. You feel sorry for the families who are in the Czech Republic, Strand told news last spring. Straumfjorden was the birthplace of the traveling party, who were between 45 and 80 years old. For ten years they had traveled to Steigen every year to experience Norwegian nature. When the accident happened, several people were going to Bodø to fly home. – I spoke to them half an hour before they left, and they were in a very good mood, said Strand. But after just over a mile, it slammed into the eight-kilometer-long tunnel. Four of the tourists never returned home alive.
ttn-69
The fatal accident in Steigen has not been fully investigated eleven months later – news Nordland
