Tue, May 22 2012
On June 6, the ad hoc parliamentary committee charged with investigating the circumstances that caused the deadly fire on the Sofia-Kardam train on February 28, is expected to finish its work. The committee was set up on March 6, initially with a term of one month, which was later extended by two more months, private broadcaster bTV reported.
Nine people died in the train fire in one of the carriages, sparking renewed public discussion about the plight of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ). The committee was charged with probing the causes of the fire and the actions undertaken by railways employees to prevent the accident, but also to look into the regulatory framework concerning railway transport safety.
The committee has made no headway, its deputy chairperson Roumen Angelov told Bulgarian National Radio, as quoted by Focus news agency on June 6. He said that the committee had received the information about the accident, but had not got around to examining it.
According to Angelov, the committee intentionally delayed its investigation, hoping that the public would forget about the accident. "[The reason is that] they don't want to look at the real state of affairs at the biggest enterprise in Bulgaria [BDZ], because the real reason for this tragedy is not how the fire started, but the condition of the carriages, bad maintenance, bad management, bad financial situation, even though taxpayers have poured billions in subsidies for BDZ," Angelov said, as quoted by Focus.
The court sentenced two of the three accused rail employees to a total of 20 years in jail.
The funding is provided under the foreign military sales programme of the US army's Program Executive Office of Simulation, Training and Instrumentation.
The UK nationals were arrested after throwing beer bottles at people after being refused entry to a restaurant that had closed for the night.
Restoration and development projects include Madara Horseman, Arbanassi fortress, Magura cave.
Simeon Saxe-Coburg and his spouse Margarita opened a new heating and insulation system at the Tsar Ferdinand Hospital for Pulmonary Diseases in Iskrets, a project implemented thanks to the Embassy of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Sofia and the Nando Peretti Foundation.
According to the law's provisions, the commission will have the power to investigate individuals without prior notification and would not require a criminal conviction in order to launch an investigation.