Moldovan prosecutor's office opens criminal file on case of two persons found dead in vehicle blocked in snow drifts in Causeni district

Chisinau, 29 November /MOLDPRES/ - The prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal file in the case of the two persons found dead in a vehicle blocked in snow drifts in the Causeni district. At the same time, the police started an inquiry on this case and the Interior Ministry (MAI) instructed the carrying out of a workplace investigation at the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU). Interior Minister Adrian Efros unveiled information to this effect today.    

The official presented the chronology of the events which resulted in the death of the two persons. Thus, at about 12:00 on 26 November, the car got stick between the villages of Florica and Coscalia, Causeni district. At about 14:20, a relative of the driver and another two persons went to the stuck vehicle by foot. They realized that they would not be able to get the car out with their own forces and told the blocked people to follow them to the village. ‘’Yet, the driver said that he had already called a means for towing from Coscalia and that he would be towed and would able to continue the movement in a short time.’’     

„At 14:58, the driver made his first call at the 112 Service, during which he said that he was stuck and the 112 operator submitted the contact phone number to decision-maker from the Drumuri (Roads) stock company. At 15:37, the driver was calling again a relative, asking him to bring him thick clothes. The relative went by horse to the car and brought him thick clothes. The driver and the passenger tried to go to the Florica village, but the woman passenger got sick and the persons ruled to remain in the car and wait for the evacuation,’’ the minister said.    

At 16:56, the driver made his second call at 112, in which he informed that exhaust gas was getting out of the vehicle. The 112 operator informed him that the teams were trying to arrive, but they did not manage to clear the road of snow. The operator asked whether the blocked people needed the ambulance and the driver said that they did not need this. The operator recommended that the applicant personally move or go out on the highway, as the report of the team working nearby the Coscalia village showed that the snow had a height of 1.5-2 metres in some places and it was quite difficult to de-block the road.      

At 17:41, the driver called the 112 Service for the third time, informing that his wife was filling bad and that she needed ambulance. The caller said that he had tried to move to the settlement, but given that his wife felt bad, he returned to his car.  

Some minutes later, the driver discussed with the controller’s office of the National Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine Centre (CNAMUP), and the concerned person explained him that the ambulance was not able to reach the vehicle. At 17:49, the driver called again the 112 number and asked to be evacuated, informing that the snow got to the level of the roof and that he was able to open only one of the doors to get out of the vehicle.  

At 17:54, the IGSU controller’s office received from the 112 Service the information about the car stuck between the Coscalia and Florica settlements and a task was given to a team from Cainari, which worked in the concerned area.

At 23:10, the intervention team from Causeni, after six hours, informed that it had managed to de-block the principal road, on which there were three mini-buses, four touring cars and four tractors, with 31 people.    

Minister Efros said that, on 27 November morning, at 8:00 a citizen informed that two dead people had been discovered in a vehicle at the entrance into the Coscalia village.