Update 18.45: Prime Minister Maia Sandu has expressed condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the accident. "Our thoughts go out to the seriously injured people, who are fighting in these moments for their life, with the help of emergency doctors," Maia Sandu wrote on her Facebook page. The prime minister claims that she convened an emergency meeting today, at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, to clarify the circumstances of the accident and inform the public about all aspects, but also to mobilize the maximum support needed by the injured and the families of those affected by the accident.
Update 18.45: Igor Curov, deputy medical director of Emergency Medicine Institute, told IPN that in all 24 people needed medical care following the accident. Nine are hospitalized. There are patients with moderate to severe associated traumas. The woman admitted to the intensive care unit is undergoing surgery now. Also, 12 people received medical care and were referred for outpatient treatment, one person is under the supervision of the Emergency Department, and two patients left the hospital without being examined.
Update 17.42: According to Svetlana Scripnic, press officer of the Chisinau Municipal Police Department, the information initially available was incorrect. According to the updated information, following the accident a man died, the passenger from the car, while the 33-year-old woman, who was behind the wheel, is in serious condition, in the intensive care unit. In all 24 people, including a minor, needed medical care. Svetlana Scripnic could not state whether the woman driving the Porche car had so far broken the Road Traffic Regulations.
Updat 16.41: According to the updated information provided by the National Patrol Inspectorate of the IGP, the preliminary cause of the accident was speeding and crossing the intersection on prohibited light by the Porche driver. After the collision, 20 trolleybus passengers were transported to the hospital, the passenger in the car died on the spot, and the car driver was rushed to the hospital in serious condition.
Update 16.28: Asked by IPN, the head of the Chisinau Electric Transport Authority, Dorin Ciornîi, said that, according to the trolleybus driver, he had stopped at the red light. After the green light was on, the trolleybus started to circulate, when the driver felt a strong blow from the right, the trolleybus being projected onto the sidewalk. Dorin Ciornii also says that there were no people on the sidewalk and that all the people who had suffered were from the trolleybus and the car. The driver of the trolleybus suffered no injuries. The conductor and 18 passengers were transported to the hospital. Dorin Ciornii does not have information as to the possible death of one of the passengers.
Update 16.28: The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations specifies in a press release, that it was necessary to extricate the people, both from the car and from the damaged trolleybus. According to preliminary data, following the accident, 18 people, including a 13-year-old girl, suffered various traumas, being admitted to the hospital for medical investigations and medical care. IGSU also writes that a man, passenger of the Porche car, died, and that the woman behind the wheel was in serious condition.
Two people were killed and at least 15 were injured after a car ran into a 21-route trolleybus, at the intersection of Alba Iulia and Onisifor Ghibu streets in the Buiucani sector of the capital.
Following the impact, the trolleybus was projected on the footway, where several people were standing. The information was confirmed for IPN by Svetlana Scripnic, press officer of the Chisinau Municipal Police Department.
According to Svetlana Scripnic, a trolleybus passenger died. The man did not have identity documents with him, but he looked between 35 and 40 years of age. Also, a woman was killed in the car, that was no longer at the scene when the police arrived.
Police have not confirmed yet, but the media reports, referring to witnesses, that the woman was behind the wheel of the Porsche car driving at high speed.
The accident happened around 2 pm.