Published on 02.09.2023 at 1:18 p.m. by APA
The leaders of the transport company involved in the accident were arrested and placed in preventive detention. Beninese justice wants to see clearly in the accident which killed 22 people on January 29th. Four managers of the “Baobab Express” transport company will face justice on February 27. They are prosecuted for “manslaughter, involuntary injury, false certificates and false and use of false certificates”.
A collision between a vehicle belonging to this transport company and a truck left 22 dead and around 20 injured, some of whom, with third-degree burns, are still between life and death. The accident occurred in Dassa-Zoumè in central Benin about 200 kilometers from Cotonou.
In addition to the general manager, Paguiel Houémavo, the supervisor of the transport company, the logistics manager and the garage manager are concerned by the procedure in question. They were detained pending trial.
According to the first elements delivered by the government following the accident, the bus was traveling at high speed when the accident occurred. A tire on the vehicle burst before it hit an oncoming truck. The shock caused a violent incident which completely consumed the two vehicles.
The Beninese authorities also revealed that a few hours before the shock, the driver, himself deceased in the accident, was fined for speeding.
To fight against traffic accidents, the government decided in the Council of Ministers to install surveillance cameras on the roads.
