It was on 15 May last year that four Czech tourists died when a car collided with a tractor inside the Steigentunnel. The police have been investigating the accident for a long time. The case has now been dropped, writes TV 2. In October, the police finished investigating the case, and it was forwarded to the state attorney. – A complex assessment of all the evidence in the case has been carried out. Due to the fatal outcome of the case and no witnesses to the incident, it has not been possible to draw a sufficiently clear conclusion about what actually happened, says State Attorney Hilde Stoltenberg to TV 2. Stoltenberg has not yet been available for an interview with news. Collided with tractor The Czech-registered passenger car drove into the slow-moving tractor, which had punctured one of the wheels and was missing a rear light. 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. A total of six people were involved in the accident. Fem sat the passenger 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. Finn-Ove Smith is defending the driver of the tractor. He tells news that his client is happy that the case has ended. – He has thought that this has been terribly difficult, and he is happy that he cannot be blamed for the accident. Unreasonable driving conditions On Thursday last week, the report from the Accident Investigation Board came out. It states that there may be several causes that led to the four deaths. One of the reasons listed is that the tunnel was not in good condition. – Nordland County Council had planned to upgrade the tunnel by 2025, but no compensatory measures had been initiated in anticipation of an upgrade, the report states. Lack of reliable information makes it difficult to draw a clear conclusion about which factors contributed to the collision. In the report, however, it appears that a lack of seat belt use by several of the passengers may be a possible cause of several of the deaths. The Norwegian defense says that his client has been in talks with the National Accident Investigation Board, and that he is familiar with the report which points out that other factors may be decisive. – You may never get an answer as to why the accident occurred, but the fact is that someone drove straight at my client. Also others who have driven in the tunnel who saw him, and drove past, says Smith. The tunnel’s lighting system was not in accordance with regulations – The eight kilometer long tunnel had dark walls, and the lighting system was not in accordance with the tunnel safety regulations for county roads, the report states. In addition to the fact that the tractor was moving slowly and the trailer lacked rear lights, according to the report, the passenger car is likely to have been driving without high beams. Until the lighting system is upgraded, the state accident commission recommends that Nordland County Council initiates compensatory measures in the Steigentunnel that can safeguard traffic safety.
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Four died in a tunnel accident in Steigen – the case is dropped – news Nordland
