Fars Police Announce Causes of Accident Involving Soldiers' Bus

The Fars province police have announced the reasons for the recent accident involving a bus carrying soldiers in the province as "the driver's inability to control the vehicle, lack of proper guardrails, and violations by the transportation company." According to a report on Tuesday, July 8, by the IRIB News Network, Colonel Kasra Sirousi, head of the northern Fars road police, stated: "In the bus overturning incident carrying soldiers, 50% of the blame was assigned to the driver, 25% to the road maintenance, and 25% to the bus supplier company." Colonel Sirousi further explained that "based on assessments conducted by the police, the bus driver was found 50% at fault due to excessive speed and inability to control the vehicle, while the negligence of the road maintenance in the city of Neyriz was 25% due to not providing adequate protection to prevent vehicles from falling." Previously, the commander of the Army's Ground Forces had also stated that "the driver's old age and the bus's wear and tear" were reasons for the accident. Brigadier General Amir Hatami, Deputy Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Support, also promised that "those individuals and entities that were negligent in the soldiers' bus overturning incident, whether within the armed forces or in the private sector, will be held accountable." In the fall of a Volvo bus into a ravine on the Sirjan-Neyriz road on Wednesday, July 2, between 13 to 20 conscript soldiers from Camp 05 Kerman lost their lives, and several others were injured. Different statistics have been published regarding the casualties of this incident. The President of Iran and his first deputy have also called for an investigation into the incident.