France: Four firms and a dozen individuals went on trial in France yesterday charged with involuntary manslaughter over the deaths of 39 people in a blaze in the Mont Blanc Tunnel in 1999.
The disaster was caused by a Belgian-registered Volvo truck filled with flour and margarine catching fire.
The trial, which is expected to last until the end of April, will hear about 180 witnesses and experts. It will be the first major test of a 2000 French law making it harder to secure a conviction for involuntary manslaughter.
Among those on trial are the Belgian driver of the truck, Mr Gilbert Degrave, the Mayor of Chamonix, Mr Michel Charlet, French and Italian tunnel regulators and a number of company officials. If found guilty, they face a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of €45,000.
The firms on trial are Swedish car-maker Volvo, Italian tunnel operator SITMB, French tunnel operator ATMB and its management arm. They each face a possible fine of €45,000, a ban on their activities or being placed under judicial observation.
Prosecutors allege that a fault in the motor of the Volvo truck led to an oil leak which ignited the fire. Volvo denied it was responsible, saying the leak could have been accidental.
SITMB (Societa Italiana per azioni per il traforo del Monte Bianco) announced last Friday that it had set up a fund of €13.5 million to compensate relatives of victims of the fire. The move does not exempt it from standing trial.
The three other companies have declined to offer similar deals to the relatives of the victims, believed to number about 250, many of whom are travelling from 10 countries to attend the trial in Bonneville, in the French Alpine region of Haute-Savoie. - (Reuters)