2023-10-31 17:02:37
The Brussels public prosecutor’s office has decided to close the case relating to the death of Sultan Zadran, an Uber Eats bicycle deliveryman who was crushed at the beginning of the year by a Flixbus bus. A decision taken at the end of September and confirmed to RTBF by a spokesperson for the prosecution.
Sultan Zadran, 38, of Afghan origin, was riding his two-wheeler on the Boulevard du Roi Albert II when it was hit on February 2, 2023, in the evening, by a bus from the passenger transport company Flixbus. Sultan had to drive towards Boulevard Solvay, in the territory of Schaerbeek.
A minute of silence, a collection and questions
The victim found himself in the bus driver’s blind spot, not equipped with specific mirrors. The law does not require this equipment, so the driver was unable to avoid the accident. According to information provided at the time, the rear part of the bus had to be lifted by the Brussels firefighters in order to extricate the victim. The latter, seriously injured, was then rushed to hospital where he died. Sultan, who had fled the Taliban regime and lived in Belgium for ten years, left behind five children and his pregnant wife, refugees in Pakistan.
The death of this precarious Uber Eats delivery man had sparked a wave of emotion. First of all, from his Afghan teammates cricket club Brussels Warriors. They quickly launched a donation drive to help Sultan’s family and were able to raise more than 10,000 euros. For his part, the Collective of Couriers had organized a gathering and a minute of silence at the scene of the tragedy, the following Monday, in tribute to the victim.
A tragedy which raised a lot of questions around the vulnerability of bicycle delivery men and more generally cyclists on the Boulevard du Roi Albert II. An axis permanently used by buses and coaches which do not have suitable equipment (blind spot mirrors) to identify weak users, even when the latter fully comply with the highway code. Furthermore, for several years, weak cyclist and user associations complain the poor condition of the cycle path and the presence of stops for coaches, who regularly park on this path, endangering two-wheelers.
It’s shocking
In any case, neither the bus driver who fatally mowed down Sultan Zadran, nor his company Flixbus, nor the Uber Eats platform, will be prosecuted by the courts, following this dismissal. An outcome that surprises Haroon Munir Ud Din, Sultan’s distant cousin.
“It’s shocking, because we, his family members, want a trial“, he tells us. “For his family, Sultan represented the only source of income. She was totally dependent on Sultan. A lawsuit would have resulted in compensation from the bus company or Uber Eats. This is the outcome that we expected from the prosecution.”
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