Indictment confirmed against gas engineer Ibrulja and 'Sarajevogas' construction site manager Jugović over Binježevo accident

(Patria) - The Cantonal Court in Sarajevo has confirmed the indictment of the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office against Jusuf Ibrulja, supervising engineer for gas installations at the company "Arting BH", and Mehmed Jugović, construction site manager at KJKP "Sarajevogas", for the serious criminal offense against general safety of people and property in connection with the criminal offense of improper and incorrect execution of construction works.

The defendants are accused that during April 2018, while carrying out works on the construction of a distribution gas pipeline in the Miševići settlement, specifically, in front of a family house in Binježevo Street, they failed to pay the necessary attention to whether a layer of sand was laid below the lower generatrix of the gas pipeline without placing the gas pipeline through a protective pipe, given that the terrain is rocky and that there is a rock beneath the gas pipeline which was not removed during the trench excavation, which resulted in uncontrolled gas leakage into the house where on January 15, 2024, at around 11:20 PM, an explosion occurred, followed by a fire in which a young man died, while his father sustained serious life-threatening bodily injuries.

Extensive damage was also caused to the house and auxiliary buildings in the amount of 306,567.94 BAM.

In the indictment, the acting prosecutor proposed to the court to prohibit the defendants from performing supervisory and management duties. For the main trial, the hearing of 18 witnesses, six expert witnesses, and the presentation of more than 130 pieces of material evidence has been proposed.