The owners of the LPG station in Crevedia, which exploded in the summer of 2023, have filed a criminal complaint against three firefighting commanders who intervened at the scene.
Six people died and 52 were injured in the two explosions that occurred at the illegal liquefied gas station near Bucharest.
The law firm representing Cosmin Stîngă and Ionuț Doldurea, the owners of the company operating the LPG station that caused the tragedy in Crevedia, announced the legal actions taken by the two.
The three firefighters are accused of "abuse of authority resulting in serious harm to the legal interests of the inferior or subordinate, negligence in service, failure to take legal measures for safety and health at work, failure to comply with legal measures for safety and health at work, and culpable destruction resulting in a disaster."
Doldurea and Stîngă accuse the firefighting chiefs of not considering the risk of explosions and not conducting a proper area reconnaissance. In other words, they are held responsible for the death of those near the exploded station.
"In the case known publicly as 'The Crevedia File,' today, May 7, 2024, on behalf of Mr. Cosmin Stîngă and Mr. Ionuț Doldurea, as well as FLAGAS SRL, we filed a criminal complaint against 3 firefighting commanders, certified as firefighters," announced the law firm quoted by Aktual24.
In support of their legal action, the lawyers present excerpts from the statements of the firefighters.
"A small but expressive sample of how the institutions with intervention duties in the disaster on August 26, 2023, understood to manage the urgency they faced emerges from the statement of one of the 3 intervention commanders targeted by today's complaint, submitted to the Military Prosecutor's Office:
"At 19:29, we withdrew the device [...] because [...] we did not want the flame to go out, as if the load went out, it would have formed a toxic cloud.
[...] At 20:01, Mr. [...] also arrived, who came to my position, I reported the situation and the measures taken, and he took over the command of the intervention. I had a discussion with him [...], we concluded that [...] it is not advisable to act to extinguish the fire at the tank to prevent the discharge of toxic substances. [...] I mention that before the explosion, nothing predicted it. [...] WE DID NOT KNOW THE TANK'S LOAD, NOR THE QUANTITY OR SUBSTANCE [...] and the fact that only one tank was burning in the middle of a yard did not suggest that an explosion would follow. If we saw that the tank had not exploded for about 90 minutes, we considered that it would not explode and that the method we used to cool it was good.
[...]"
Military Prosecutor's Question: In the moments leading up to the explosion, did you hear or see anything that predicted it?
Answer: No. No one expected it. There were no signs.
Military Prosecutor's Question: Why didn't you withdraw further?
Answer: I considered it unnecessary. Procedures do not establish a specific distance," the statement reads.
10 days after the disaster in Crevedia, the owners of Flagas company were finally questioned and detained for culpable destruction resulting in a disaster. Then, they were put in preventive arrest on September 6. Subsequently, they were placed under house arrest at the end of November.
In this case, 132 individuals have joined as civil parties and are seeking over 26 million euros in damages.