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One Belarusian child reported dead in bus crash in Ukraine

 

One Belarusian child was said to have been killed as two buses collided head-on in northwestern Ukraine on July 11.

The buses collided near a village in the Kovel district, Volyn province, at 7:34 a.m., according to Ukraine's emergency management ministry. One of the buses was carrying 40 under-16-year-old children and 10 adults from Belarus to Bulgaria, while the other was a passenger bus heading from the city of Lutsk to another Ukrainian city, Shatsk.

Eight people, including a 13-year-old Belarusian boy, died as a result of the accident, said the ministry. The other victims included five Ukrainians and the two Bulgarian drivers of the Bulgarian-bound bus. Twenty-two Belarusian citizens and eight Ukrainians were hospitalized with injuries.

The travel agency that had organized the Belarusian tourists' trip said that all of the Belarusians except those hospitalized would return to the country on the company's bus. The agency's director rushed to Ukraine on Thursday morning to arrange their trip back home.

When reached by BelaPAN on Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Belarusian embassy in Ukraine failed to either confirm or deny the report that one Belarusian had died.

The Belarusian emergency management launched a hotline to provide information and counseling to the families of those caught up in the accident.

The Volyn Province Prosecutor's Office has instituted criminal proceedings in connection with the accident. // BelaPAN