On the morning of June 5, a serious road traffic accident occurred on a highway in the Kharkiv region. On the R-58 highway "Merefa — Zlatopol — Lozova", a Volkswagen LT minibus transporting a group of schoolchildren and teachers veered off the road and overturned into a ditch.
Accident details and casualties
Preliminary data suggests that the driver lost control of the vehicle. Inside the cabin were 14 children — students of the 5th and 9th grades from one of the local lyceums, as well as two accompanying teachers. The excursion group was either returning or proceeding along the route when the accident occurred.
As a result of the rollover, five people were injured: three minors and two adults. The injured were promptly hospitalized in medical facilities for treatment.
Criminal investigation launched
The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office has taken the situation under procedural control and initiated a pre-trial investigation. The case was opened under Part 1 of Article 286 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of road safety rules or transport operation). Currently, investigative bodies are establishing all the circumstances that led to the tragedy.
Context of road safety
This incident is one of a series of accidents involving passenger transport in recent times. In April, near the Bulgarian-Turkish border, a bus with Ukrainian citizens was involved in a fatal accident in which two people died. Earlier this month, a minibus with Ukrainians overturned in Poland, and in February, accidents involving school and passenger buses occurred in the Poltava district and on the "Alexandrovka — Kropyvnytskyi — Mykolaiv" highway, resulting in fatalities and injuries.