Families of crash victims await trial of driver
The three victims were final-year students in the organisation of transport and transport management programme
In September, the Bolotnoye District Court of Novosibirsk Region will hear the case of a road crash that killed five people — three young students and two young women. They were travelling from Novosibirsk to Kemerovo after paying for their ride through an app. The driver is currently under house arrest, and his lawyer argues the road was unsafe. NGS spoke to the victims« relatives about what they remember of that terrible night.
The minibus was driven by 43-year-old Oleg Kurnosov
«I had a very bad dream»
Anna was a member of the Snow Landing volunteer campaign
Three students of the Novosibirsk College of Railway Transport — Alexander Polyansky, Dmitry Ovchinnikov and Dmitry Kurashov — set off for Kemerovo on 14 March this year to look at a car Sasha was planning to buy. At the same time, Sasha«s friend, who knows about cars, travelled from Prokopyevsk to Kemerovo. He was to tell them whether the purchase was worth it.
The case was opened under Part 5 of Article 264 of the Criminal Code (traffic violations)
«He was supposed to call them on the road. Whether the car was good or not, whether they should buy it. Even if they didn«t need to buy it, they were simply going to see Sasha Polyansky»s grandmother. She lived in Kemerovo. Even if they hadn«t bought the car, they would just have walked around the city and come back home on Sunday,» says Kristina, mother of 19-year-old Dima Kurashov.
The moment of the crash was captured on video
The young men decided to save money and, instead of taking a bus, booked a car through BlaBlaCar. The weather that evening was not very good, and the first driver, according to Sasha Polyansky«s mother Nadezhda, refused. On the second attempt, the young men found someone to travel with. Two young women travelled with them.
«My son knows I«m against all these “bla-bla-cars.” I»m for buses, for rail transport. He kept it from me so as not to worry me unnecessarily. I only learned about it from the investigator. I knew my child was going, where he was going — I knew all of that,» recalls Kristina, Dima Kurashov«s mother.
Kristina Kurashova called her son an hour after he set off. But he did not answer his phone. Then his mother thought Dima was simply asleep. Moreover, the student had left home half-asleep. Kristina noticed that Dima had not been online for a long time. The young man usually never disappeared from the internet for that long. Kristina called again, but her son still did not answer.
«Then I went to bed and had a very bad dream. I dreamed that I, my own sister and my parents were standing on a road, on the highway. And my son was not with us. In a panic, I started calling my son. I called endlessly. And then a police officer took the phone and answered that my son was no longer alive,» recalls Dima«s mother.
Sasha Polyansky had cash with him to buy the car. His mother Nadezhda was worried that this could cause problems. At around 6 p.m., Sasha called his father and said everything was fine, they were in the car and heading out to Kemerovo.
«Our child always took it very seriously that his parents shouldn«t worry. It was important to him. He always called back, always answered calls. And he said: “Dad, as soon as we get there, I»ll call you,”» recalls Nadezhda.
At around eight o«clock, Sasha»s father decided to call him, but his son did not answer. There were only rings. Nadezhda immediately realised something was wrong. She became uneasy, but her husband reassured her. After all, the car had not even been on the road for two hours.
The third friend was Dima Ovchinnikov. Initially he had planned to spend that weekend with his mother Sofia at home in the settlement of Gorny in Toguchinsky District. Sofia worked a two-days-on, two-days-off schedule, and her days off did not always coincide with Dima«s.
The last time she spoke to her son by phone was on Friday, the day before the crash. Her son was on his way to take an internal exam at driving school and said he would come. But on Saturday, when Sofia asked what tasty food she should cook for him, Dmitry said he would come next time. And he told her about his plan to go to Kemerovo with friends.
«We had a quarrel. I don«t know why I reacted that way. I thought about it afterwards too, why I got so angry, why I started saying that if he had free time he should pay more attention to his studies. Driving school and exams were coming up. On 20 March he was supposed to take university entrance exams,» says Dmitry Ovchinnikov»s mother.
Sofia spoke to her son at around two in the afternoon. During the night of 15 March, Dima«s friends came to her home. They had noticed that Dima was not answering and had stopped responding. They began calling their friend, and at some point a traffic police officer answered.
«She loved life very much»
The crash occurred in Bolotninsky District. According to the regional traffic police press service, a Mercedes minibus drove into the oncoming lane and collided with a MAN truck. The impact threw four passengers out of the minibus through the vehicle«s windows.
«They ran to my son first. Dima was dead immediately. They sent me the autopsy report and it showed he had a single fatal blow. It struck the left side of his temple and the bone went two centimetres into his skull,» explains Dima Kurashov«s mother.
Dmitry Ovchinnikov was also thrown from the car in the impact. They tried for a long time to stabilise him. One of the witnesses was a medic and tried to help the young man. Sofia found the witness — it was important to her to know that her son was not alone in his final minutes.
At eight o«clock, Nadezhda began asking her husband to call their son again. He dialled, but no one answered the phone. She had a bad premonition. And at that moment, the mother received a call from her daughter, Sasha»s sister Anastasia, who also could not reach her brother.
Sasha«s friend could not reach him either. He had already arrived in Kemerovo from Prokopyevsk and looked at the car. By then Nadezhda was already crying, and her daughter was comforting her. In the end, Nastya saw the information about the crash in the media.
Sasha«s father called the local police station in Bolotnoye, where they were told that Alexander Polyansky had been taken to the local hospital, but nothing was said about his condition. The family set off for Bolotnoye, but they were too late.
«On the way, we very much hoped that he was still alive. And for us he was still alive for a while. We arrived closer to two o«clock in the morning,» recalls Sasha»s mother.
According to his mother, witnesses called Sasha Polyansky a “little live wire.” He was waving his arms and his white T-shirt could be seen from afar. The young man was taken to hospital, where he died five hours later, at 00:35.
«Our Sasha always said: “Oh, why worry, everything will be fine.” He was always positive. He was very open, very emotional, he knew how to win people over,» Nadezhda says through tears.
Along with the three students, 22-year-old Polina and 28-year-old Anna were in the car. NGS was unable to reach Polina«s relatives or acquaintances.
Anna was returning home that evening from Novosibirsk to Kemerovo. She was from Mezhdurechensk. In Kemerovo she worked as an administrator at a dental clinic and was raising her daughter; she was divorced. Her four-year-old daughter is now with her father.
«Anyuta went to training sessions. Her little daughter had dance classes. They lived active lives. Anyuta did volunteer work. At university she joined student volunteer brigades. And she took part in various campaigns afterwards. She loved life very much,» recalls Anna«s sister Tatyana.
Anna regularly donated blood and was always the life of the party. At gatherings with relatives, it was Anna who was in charge of songs and dances. She had many friends. Anya was trapped in the car in the impact. After the crash she was taken to hospital, where she died.
«We are not executioners»
The investigation into the criminal case has now been completed. In early July it was transferred to Bolotnoye District Court, and the first hearing, according to the court«s website, is scheduled for 9 September.
According to the victims« parents, the driver, Oleg Kurnosov, has admitted his guilt. He is currently under house arrest. The man registered as a sole proprietor in 2022 and worked transporting passengers. He has a wife and three children, two of them underage.
The driver himself has not contacted any of the parents. Although Sofia, Dmitry Ovchinnikov«s mother, says that two to three weeks after the crash she was contacted by Oleg Kurnosov»s lawyer, who offered financial assistance, but she refused.
«In early July, I think, I went to Bolotnoye to review the case files. And that day I received a transfer of 10,000 rubles (about $125 at current rates) with a note that it was partial compensation for harm on behalf of Oleg Kurnosov. I sent the money back,» said Sofia.
Dmitry Kurashov«s mother believes the driver must bear full responsibility for the crash, since it was his decision to carry passengers. And the fact that the weather was bad and the wind strong should not influence the court»s decision.
«Five months have already passed, in September it will be six, and the case is still sitting on the shelf. They were children, they had their whole lives ahead of them. We are not executioners, we simply want this man to be punished,» says Kristina.
Nadezhda, Sasha Polyansky«s mother, adds that the maximum penalty under this article is seven years in a penal colony. The parents are also troubled by the speed at which the driver was travelling. Kristina claims the case files state he was driving in fifth gear.
«If you carry people, it must be in any weather conditions. That means you should have assessed the condition of the road. You know this highway like the back of your hand. The journey from Novosibirsk to Bolotnoye takes more than two and a half hours. They got there in less than an hour and a half, do you understand?» asks Nadezhda, Sasha Polyansky«s mother.
The parents fear that the driver will be able to shift the blame onto others. According to them, the lawyer constantly files motions pointing to both the bad road and the weather.
«They testified that there was black ice»
Oleg Kurnosov«s interests in court are represented by Kemerovo lawyer Vladimir Chepikov. He says straight away that the driver fully admits his guilt. Nevertheless, the defence believes that the traffic police were mistaken when they wrote in the report that the road surface met requirements.
«Shortly after the crash, road services arrived at the site and began intensive cleaning of the highway and treating it with de-icing agent. Witnesses who were driving behind the driver testified that there was black ice,» the lawyer explained.
Vladimir Chepikov says that if they can prove the crash occurred because of the actions of the road services, the victims will be able to recover damages from them as well.
«The defendant naturally understands that a tragedy occurred. He does not absolve himself of blame for what happened. But at the same time he would like to draw attention to the fact that crashes constantly occur on this highway. Including fatal ones,» the lawyer notes.
Vladimir Chepikov says they provided the preliminary investigation authorities with information from the available traffic police database, which notes that many accidents occur on this section.
«If you watch the video available online, the vehicles are driving in a straight line. And suddenly the Mercedes Benz driven by my client is carried into the oncoming lane. It was simply at that moment that a sideways gust of wind struck. And if the road had met the requirements, with a high degree of probability this would not have happened,» the lawyer asserts.
Oleg Kurnosov was not overtaking anyone, Vladimir Chepikov adds. He was driving straight and the car spun around. An NGS correspondent sent a request to the Interior Ministry.
On the evening of 17 August, a mass pile-up occurred in the Severno-Chemskoy residential area of Novosibirsk. The driver behind the wheel suffered cardiac arrest.
