Just this weekend, a story about a Tesla crashing into a tow truck and bursting into flames in Russia made headlines. Significantly notable about this incident was that after the crash explosions ensued the already in flames electric car. A series of developments surfaced about this story that gives clarification to initial misconceptions about the event.
A statement from Aleksey Tretyakov, the owner of the Tesla vehicle in question revealed more conclusive details about the incident. On CrimeRussia, the tesla vehicle owner shared that he had been driving at 100 km/hour, which is the speed limit set for the area. A video recording showed that the tesla electric sedan passed the first stopped vehicle that appeared to have been broken down and caught the corner of a tow truck that was on the adjacent lane.
Based on initial reports, the vehicle in the accident is a Tesla Model S. However, later, more videos of the accident surfaced online, and it seemed that the electric car involved in the vehicular crash is not the Model S but tesla Model 3 based on the taillights and headlights' shapes. Other videos also showing the accident in Russia showed that the involved vehicle was already on fire. A couple of explosions could be witnessed on the video that resulted in several parts of the Tesla vehicle flying in the air.
Interestingly, the explosion inside the Tesla vehicle appeared to happen after the vehicle crashed with the tow truck based on the video. It is worth noting that the heavy vehicle is not visible in the video clips when the Tesla vehicle exploded. Karenrei, one of the members of Tesla Motors Club, shared that the explosion is somewhat similar to the explosion when an airbag explodes.
Reports of the injuries from the accident include the Tesla vehicle driver and his two children getting severe injuries. According to Russian media IXBT.com, reported that Tretyakov was currently on intensive care. However, several reports proved that this is not accurate. In his interview with CrimeRussia, the tesla owner said that both his legs were broken because of the accident, but fortunately, both his children were not practically injured.
In an update, it appears that CrimeRussia misquoted the Tesla driver about his injury. In the video interview, the tesla owner stated that he had one broken leg and a broken nose because of the accident. Tesla is yet to release its statement about this incident in Russia.
