The law enforcement agency is looking for witnesses to confirm the "high speed excess" and other factors in the crash
It is the defining mark of the accident. A skid of about 50 meters that invades the left lane of the A-52 highway at kilometer point 63.300. A little further ahead, in the median, 100 square meters of burned surface, dozens of meters of twisted guardrail, and numerous pieces of a Lamborghini Huracán that have already been collected by the highway maintenance service that connects Pontevedra with Benavente. Just six days after an accident that claimed the lives of Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva, the causes point to "high speed excess" and a problem with one of the vehicle's tires.
These are the initial conclusions reached by the Traffic Brigade of the Civil Guard of Zamora, responsible for investigating the accident. The fire greatly complicates their work, as it has destroyed evidence that could have expedited an investigation that will be submitted to the sole court in Puebla de Sanabria, presided by Elena Rubio González. It is her responsibility to determine what happened that night on July 3 at around 00:40.
One of the most painful aspects was the necessary identification of the bodies of the young men by their families through personal belongings. Thanks to rings and other personal items, it has been concluded that the driver of the vehicle was Diogo Jota. Another painful aspect was the decomposition of the rubber from the tires, a key element to determine if one of them could have caused the accident. Apparently, that skid or tire mark indicates that one of them had a problem.
Tragedy in football: the fatal journey of Diogo Jota and his brother
It is this very mark that also points to "high speed excess": the length of it, around 50 meters, and the inability to control the vehicle after braking, as well as the subsequent impact. The Civil Guard is confident that the car had an integrated GPS, like many high-end vehicles, to accurately determine the speed at which the players were traveling at the time of the accident.
At the moment, these are all indications that the Zamora Command Brigade has had to rely on because they have not been able to identify any witnesses to what happened. In fact, they are still looking for the truck driver who recorded the video showing the car on fire shortly after the crash. However, the rapid spread of the video is making it difficult to reach the source to conduct an interrogation with him or the occupants of the other vehicles seen in the 25 seconds that have already been viewed by hundreds of millions of people.
Despite the media attention on the case, the Civil Guard is not in a hurry to solve an accident that could have many economic and civil liability consequences, even if no crime was committed. The tragedy has already occurred, but it is necessary to determine the level of involvement of all parties in the tragedy in case there are subsequent claims.
According to information obtained by EL MUNDO, the crashed Lamborghini belonged to a luxury car rental company in Barcelona. It was a car with Spanish registration and the steering wheel on the left side. The underlying question is about the rental contract period, regarding whether the responsibility for the car's tire maintenance lay more with the company or the users, and the importance of the tires in what happened. The documentation has already been requested, but Data Protection Law requires certain requirements to be met to provide that information to the Armed Forces.
Once the report is concluded and submitted, being judicialized, it will be used to determine the corresponding compensations. These compensations will take into account the loss of earnings, especially related to the salary of Diogo Jota, a footballer for Liverpool, around 7 million euros annually. Although the English club, as a goodwill gesture, has decided to fully pay the remaining two years of the player's contract to the player's family.
Precisely, Jota was heading to the English team's preseason, where he was supposed to report on Monday, via ferry from Santander accompanied by his brother. A recent lung operation forced him to take that fateful alternative to flying.