Four young people die in automobile accident in Gulbene Region

RIGA - Four young people died in an accident last night in Gulbene Region, LETA was informed at the Vidzeme Regional Department of the State Police.

The accident took place a little after midnight in Lizums County, on the Cesvaine-Velena road.

Initial information shows that a young man driving an Audi lost control of the vehicle, which caused it to crash into a tree.

The driver, born in 2007, and three passengers, a girl born in 2006, a girl born in 2010 and a boy born in 2007, died in the accident. Another passenger, born in 2007, was taken to a medical facility.

As the driver was a minor, he did not have a driving license. The car had a valid road worthiness permit.

Criminal proceedings have been opened and the circumstances of the accident are under investigation.

The State Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) informed LETA that hydraulic tools were used to retrieve two bodies from the car.

This is one of the most tragic crashes in recent years, in which so many young people have lost their lives. The most tragic accident involving young people in the last 12 years happened on January 1, 2012 in Kraslava Region. On that occasion, a Mazda 626, carrying seven young people, veered off the road and plunged into the Rudna River. One of the young people was in the luggage compartment of the car. The young people in the car were died by drowning. The car had summer tires in poor condition. It had also failed a road worthiness test. None of the young people who died in the tragic accident in the Kraslava Region had a driving licence.