Zurrieq double decker tragedy: Victim's relatives want questions answered

Elisaveta Avdala's family ,one of Monday's victims, said that while they are filled with sorrow and anger, they want to find out the whole story and seek justice

Elisaveta Avdala was due to go back to Spain on the same day
Elisaveta Avdala was due to go back to Spain on the same day

Relatives of Elisaveta Avdala, one of the two victims of last Monday’s accident, said they want to know the full story and for justice to be served. 

On Monday, an open-top bus hit a low-lying tree in Valletta Road, Żurrieq. The freak accident claimed Elisaveta's life, along with a 62-year-old Belgian, with 50 other people injured.  

The 24-year-old bus driver was questioned by police during the week.

“Eli was a person larger than life, always full of joy, facing with her big smile even the most difficult situations in life. The love she had In her for everyone around her was enormous such was also her desire to explore the world,” Elisaveta’s cousin, Petia Rousseva said.

Avdala was as a Bulgarian of Jewish origin, living in Spain for the last 17 years. She was an entrepreneur, life coach and a teacher in Barcelona.

“Very well known in her professional circle in Barcelona, since she had taught hundreds of peoples in English, she had coached hundreds of people how to tackle with their life problems. Now, more than ever we need her knowledge in order to tackle with her loss.”

The family said that they were deeply saddened about the tragedy, and said they wanted to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

“We feel sorrow and anger because such a young and energetic life was brutally taken away from us. We are decided to find out how the whole story happened and we will seek justice for her death till the end,” Petia said.

“We will do this because we know that if she was alive she would have done the same. We also want to prevent that because of safety omittance and carelessness another innocent life is taken away.”

 The family said that the a similar tourist bus had just passed through the same route, and so do not believe that the storm crashed the tree the night before.

They said that Elisaveta was to travel back to Spain on the same day as the incident, and was even planning on moving her business to Malta.