A special committee commissioned by parliament to investigate whether there was any negligence in the “road and traffic safety” regarding the deaths of four young people completed its report in December, 2019.
On December 5, 2018, police and fire crew struggled to reach the bodies of four young people who died after the car they were travelling in lost traction and was swept away by heavy floodwaters on the Ciklos bend of the Nicosia-Kyrenia Highway.
The bodies of 21-year-old Tolga Bekçi, 23-year-old Ahmet Kılıç and 18-year-old Günay Kandaz, were found in or near the vehicle which crashed through the roadside barrier and plummeted into the stream bed below the mountain road the following day. Three days after the accident on December 8, the body of 18-year-old Gaye Soyutok was retrieved.
The report on the accident was presented to the General Assembly of the Assembly on 23 December 2019.
The report found that following recent resurfacing work by a Turkish company, the culverts were blocked by debris, resurfacing had raised the road level making flooding more likely, roadside barriers were inadequate and not sufficiently embedded into the ground. Additionally, the recent roadworks had not been inspected by the transport department and did not meet current specifications.
The Investigation Committee chairman Ozdemir Berova, said that the Attorney General’s office would begin legal proceedings once the report had been submitted.
Following the incident, the state only responded by repairing the barrier and installing a speed camera in the area.
Among the allegations made about the report, it was argued that ‘an engineering error was detected’ but ‘the engineer overseeing the construction work was not found’. In another claim, it was stated that ‘no engineer was consulted in the construction of the road’, but these allegations were denied.
While the report in question revealed serious negligence, after two years, the person or persons responsible were still not found.
Kibris Postasi
