The Durmo Tours company bus, which overturned on the Skopje – Tetovo highway in February killing 16 people, had a device that was used to forge speed data collected by the tachograph sensor.
A driver from the same company who was summoned as a witness during the court hearing today confirmed that when the device was activated it would fool the sensor that records the speed of the bus. The witness, Xhemail Salii, insisted that he would not use the device, but other drivers may have.
Prosecutors have charged six people – the driver, the company owner and others, for the horrific bus crash and are investigating whether the bus was in working order, whether the driver was speeding or fell ill during the drive. The bus was taking students and workers from Skopje back to their home city of Gostivar.
Another witness called up today was in the car behind the bus at the time of the accident. He said that he saw the bus go into the middle lane, as if to overtake another vehicle, but then saw that it had driven off the highway at high speed. The witness estimated that the bus was going at around 75 to 80 kilometers per hour.
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