Nails, wire and a 5 stotinki coin were used instead of necessary parts in the bus that crashed killing 18 people near Yambol in May 2009, it was revealed in the local District Court Thursday.

The hearing heard evidence from a group of technical experts who revealed the horrific findings. They added in a 90-page report that malfunctioning of the brake-system of the bus was the main reason for the crash, due to not checking the brakes for over 6 months.

Thursday is the 4th day of the trail, which is set to resume again on March 8. 40 heirs of the victims have claimed monetary compensations from the defendants - the owner of the carrier company, Slavi Slavov and the driver, Gospodin Gospodinov.

Gospodinov’s lawyer, Mariana Gurdeva, collapsed in the court room Thursday and had to be taken to hospital, where she is said to be recovering.

Slavov is charged with causing death due to recklessness while Gospodinov - with violating traffic laws. The technical probe found that the bus breaks did not work properly and failed. The driver had a 0,66 blood alcohol level and had been driving too fast for the steep terrain.

The case involves the death of 18 people caused by a bus careering down a mountainside near Yambol, called Bakadzhik Peak ,and plowing through a crowd of pedestrians heading to a religious festival.

Not in any way belittling the report or court case but it seems to me that there are a lot of trucks and buses that are maintained to a similar standard. About four years ago at Sliven bus station I noticed a bus with the wire showing through in many places on a front tyre, I pointed it out to the driver, via an English speaking BG friend, he replied that it didn't have a puncture and it was only a local bus so no problem. No GV9s or PV9s* in Bulgaria then.
* = Immediate suspension of a bus or lorry certificate as issued by our UK vehicle inspectors.