At the beginning of the plenary sitting held on 29 May 2009 the Members of Parliament stood in a minute of silence in memory of the killed in the traffic accident near the town of Yambol where 16 people lost their life and 14 were injured. The National Assembly Speaker opened the sitting by saying that today is a day of national mourning and the entire country is paying tribute to the victims of the tragic incident.
Georgi Pirinski reminded that yesterday the Chairman of the Policy on Natural Disasters and Accidents Parliamentary Committee Venelin Uzunov and other members of parliament were at the place of accident and visited the injured and the citizens who had taken part in the rescue operations.
It is necessary that the National Assembly continue being directly involved with the efforts to overcome the consequences, with the elaboration of the findings and conclusions from the tragic event, as well as with the entire constellation of issues related to this kind of incidents, underscored Georgi Pirinski. The Chairman of the Policy on Natural Disasters and Accidents Parliamentary Committee has to continue staying in permanent contact with the rest of the state institutions and to contribute for taking all necessary measures in regard to the relatives of the victims and the municipality, the National Assembly Speaker said from the parliamentary floor.
Georgi Pirinski proposed to have an extraordinary meeting of the Transport Committee scheduled in connection with the accident. The Committee has to monitor and control the activities of all authorities, which will be involved with analyzing the accident-related circumstances, underlined the Speaker. He went on by saying that the Committee has to require all documents about the on-the-spot checks, analyses and reports made by the “Automobile Administration” Executive Agency. In his words, it is necessary to make a strict and unsparing analysis of the regime of organizing mass public events, to what extent the rules were complied with, as well as the regime of testing vehicles’ technical order and drivers’ eligibility.
The Speaker called on the members of parliaments to show solidarity with the tragedy-striken families of the dead and injured and to do the necessary on behalf of the National Assembly in order to overcome the consequences and prevent similar tragic and horrible accidents from happening in the future.
The Interior Minister submitted information on the accident before the plenary sitting. Mihail Mikov told the M.P.s that violations have been established in the work of the company –owner of the bus involved in the accident. He reminded that 16 have died in the tragic accident while 14 injured have been hospitalized in Yambol, in the Military Medical Academy and in “Pirogov”.
The Minister explained that a check on the transportation company by Executive Agency “Automobile Administration” has established a number of breaches, including absence of psychological test of the bus driver. The Minister informed that the investigation of the case is ongoing.
A hearing of the Minister of Transport in parliament is impending.