Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Saturday afternoon that he has relieved of duty Defence Minister Mario Banozic, who early on Saturday morning was involved in a road accident in which one person was killed.

The accident, which occurred on the state road DC-55 at the exit from the eastern town of Vinkovci and in which a man driving a van was killed, was caused by Minister Banozic, Vukovar County Deputy Prosecutor Biljana Luburic confirmed.

The accident happened on the state road DC-55 at the exit from Vinkovci towards Zupanja, when Banozic, driving his own car, started overtaking a freight vehicle without making sure previously that he could do it safely, and collided with a van moving in the opposite direction.

Without revealing the names of the persons involved in the accident, Luburic told a news conference that during the on-site investigation instructions were issued to collect all data to ascertain the circumstances of the accident, including urine and blood samples, to be tested for possible presence of alcohol.

“We expect those results soon,” Luburic said, adding that the prosecutorial authorities still did not have data on the speed at which the persons involved in the accident were driving and who, according to the police, had their seat belts on.

The information determined in the course of the investigation so far is based also on an interview with the driver of the freight vehicle.

Minister Banozic was initially hospitalised in Vinkovci but was later transferred to Osijek. According to hospital sources in Vinkovci, he suffered head and brain injuries in the accident but did not lose consciousness.

Government officials, too, confirmed that the minister had sustained serious injuries but that his condition was not life threatening.