New light has been shed on last Saturday's fatal accident between a bus and lorry which left 10 people dead on the Saimaa Canal maintenance road on the Russian side of the border. According to the Vyborg city prosecutor Oleg Minayev, the minibus driver was speeding, in the wrong lane and driving with summer tyres.
The prosecutor's claims were first reported by the Leningrad region's online news source 47news.ru. Initial reports in the Russian press suggested that negligence by the Finnish road maintenance contractor was to blame.
Nearly half of the Saimaa Canal, connecting Lake Saimaa to the Gulf of Finland, runs through a land area leased from Russia. By agreement, Russia leases the parts of the Saimaa Canal located in its territory, together with the associated land area, to Finland.