Eight people were injured after a passenger minibus on the Cahul-Doina route hit a utility pole on the roadside. One of the passengers, a woman yet to be identified, died shortly in hospital.

The police said the accident occurred this morning in Larga Nouă village near Cahul city. The preliminary cause of the accident is said to be a flat tire that made the driver lose control of the vehicle.

Five of the eleven passengers traveling in the minibus became entrapped as a result of the crash, with five crews of first-responders, including SMURD paramedics, deployed to extricate them. Eight passengers required hospitalization. A woman in her mid-fifties, whom the authorities are working to identify, died shortly in hospital.

The driver was tested for alcohol consumption and the result was negative.

A criminal case was initiated and a technical evaluation of the vehicle was ordered.