Supreme Court upheld long prison sentences given to the drivers of the 2016 deadly train blast in Hitrino

Supreme Court of Cassation upheld long prison sentences given to the two drivers of the 2016 deadly train crash, defendants' lawyers, Nikolai Dimitrov, told BNT on April 18, 2023.

In December 2016, a freight train carrying liquid petroleum gas derailed in the village of Hitrino, leaving 7 people dead and many injured in a massive explosion.

The court sentenced train driver Dimitar Mihnev to 15 years of imprisonment.

Assistant train driver Radoslav Petkov was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The two were found guilty of violating traffic rules and entering the station area at high speed despite the instructions of the warning semaphore while driving a freight train on 10 December 2016.

They had also ignored the signal of the semaphore at entry, which allowed driving at a reduced speed of 40 km/h. Train derailment occurred, damaging propylene gas tanks and causing an explosion that killed 7 people.

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Seven people were killed and 29 injured after a cargo train carrying tanks of polypropylene and propane-butane derailed and exploded in the village of Hitrino, North-East Bulgaria, on 10th of December, 2016.

The explosion swept though houses and buildings in the area. Search-and rescue dogs from the mountain rescue services took part in finding people under the collapsed buildings.

The explosion destroyed 26 houses and public buildings, including the municipal office and the Hitrino railway station building.