Nineteen passengers die as the brakes fail on a Russian bus, sending it careening into the Kerch Strait

On the morning of August 25, a bus carrying a construction crew from the company Tamanneftegaz crashed into the Kerch Strait. Around 8 a.m., a bus carrying rotation workers between Tamanneftegaz sites in the Krasnodar region drove onto and off of an uncompleted pier, falling into the water. An eyewitness — a crew member riding on the bus behind the one that crashed — says the bus picked up speed before driving off the pier. “At first, we thought he was just hurrying, but then we saw the road was covered in oil. The bus was literally leaving a trail of it behind. Apparently, the brakes went out, and the driver tried to stop using the handbrake. It was clear that he couldn't stop, and people started jumping out, directly into the road. We saw how people were climbing out the top exit hatch. One guy landed safely, but the next one injured his hand and broke some ribs. The bus kept tearing across the road, it got to the pier, and then it fell in the water.”

Without indicating its sources, the Telegram channel Mash (a group affiliated with the pro-Kremlin tabloid Life) says the driver tried to downshift the vehicle, but it was spun around, slamming into the barrier and plummeting four meters (13 feet) from the pier into the water. Most of the survivors are those who managed to jump from the bus through the windows and doors, according to Alexey Druzhkov, the head of a local rescue worker team.

Nineteen people died in the incident. As of August 28, another 32 people were also recorded as having been injured in the crash, including 19 passengers who are still hospitalized in the Krasnodar region. Local Emergency Management Agency officials told Meduza that search efforts concluded a day after the crash, on August 26, when authorities observed a day of mourning.

Representatives of the holding company OTEKO (the United Freight Forwarding company), which owns Tamanneftegaz, told Meduza that the passengers in the crashed bus worked for Interstroi, a general construction contractor that is building the piers for Tamanneftegaz. OTEKO also owns Interstroi.

The authorities say faulty brakes are what caused the bus crash. “The cause of the accident was the automatic braking system,” according to a statement by Russia’s Federal Transportation Inspection Service. Local officials in the Temryuksky District have also told reporters that the bus’ brakes failed.

Federal investigators have already opened two criminal cases: one for violating traffic rules and vehicle operation, and another for providing services that fail to meet safety standards. The suspects in the investigation are Karapet Mikaelyan, the bus driver (who survived the crash), and entrepreneur Yuri Vecheradze, the owner of the bus. On August 26, a Temryuksky district court placed both men under arrest.

Investigators have also seized documents from the offices of Tamanneftegaz and Interstroi. The former company reportedly signed an agreement with Vecheradze to provide five buses, but the vehicle that plunged into the Kerch Strait isn’t listed on that contract. Additionally, Mikaelyan never signed an agreement to work as a driver for Vecheradze. Citing sources at Interstroi, the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported that the the company regularly cuts costs on transportation and uses antiquated buses.

Injured victims and families of those killed in the accident have been promised compensation. Relatives of locals who died will receive 1 million rubles ($17,000) from the regional government. OTEKO has also agreed to pay compensation to the victims and relatives of those who died, though a source in the company told Meduza that OTEKO hasn’t yet determined the final amount. The bank VTB, where the construction crew members were clients, also says it will pay out compensation on an individual basis.