eight years after the tragedy which left 43 dead, four indictments were handed down

Eight years after the accident in Puisseguin (Gironde), four indictments have been issued, several civil parties confirmed to France Bleu Gironde on Tuesday, December 12. On October 23, 2015, a truck veered to the left in a bend at the exit of this village located east of Bordeaux, before colliding head-on with a passenger bus arriving in the opposite direction. The collision left 43 dead.

These indictments took place in November, but the information was only revealed on Tuesday, these same sources told France Bleu Gironde. They concern two legal entities: the transport company which had chartered the truck involved in the accident and the company which had rented the heavy goods vehicle and which had modified the vehicle with the installation of an additional fuel tank. Two representatives of these companies were also indicted.

“A victory for the victims”

“It’s a victory for the victims”, reacted Tuesday evening on France Bleu Gironde, Me Antoine Chambolle, one of the lawyers for the civil parties. The investigation was reopened last March after the Bordeaux Court of Appeal overturned the dismissal order issued in 2021, reviving hopes of a future trial. The case was dismissed because, according to the investigating judge, only the driver of the truck, who died in the accident, could be implicated. “The main cause of the accident was the excessive speed of the truck driver,” had conceded in October 2021 on France Bleu Gironde, Me Antoine Chambolle. “But there are other faultshe added: the defect of the semi-trailer and this famous additional tank [du car] oversized”. The lawyers for the civil parties therefore appealed.

This road accident in Puisseguin is the deadliest in France after that in Beaune (Côte-d’Or) in 1982, the heavy toll of which amounted to 53 deaths, most of them children.