A 44-year-old native from Tajikistan was driving the bus that fell into the Moika River in St. Petersburg, as a result of which four people lost their lives.

He had a Russian passport, Russian media write. According to the driver’s wife, named Rakhmashok Kurbonov, the 44-year-old worked 20 hours without a break and returned home at 2am, having to wake up at 7.30am to return to work. Kurbonov has been arrested.

The accident is a political issue

Russian State Duma deputy Sergei Mironov hinted that the driver’s nationality could have been a factor in the crash.

“The driver is a representative of one of the Central Asian countries. […] And in that regard, our proposal, and we introduced a bill, is to ban immigrants from working on public transportation, ban them from working in schools, ban them from working in the education system,” characteristically said the deputy.

Taxi LLC (the company that owns the bus) stated that the vehicle had undergone scheduled maintenance on May 7 and it was in good working order.

There were about 20 passengers on the bus.

“Today, at approximately one o’clock in the afternoon, the police received a report that a passenger bus fell from a bridge into the Moika River, according to the available information at the time of the emergency there were approximately 20 people inside the vehicle,” reports the report as emphasized by the RIA agency.

Videos released show the bus to deviate from its course, colliding with another vehicle and then crashing into the bridge railings and then falling into the river.