Police investigators have revealed the circumstances behind the deadly car crash in the Louis II tunnel at the start of April that resulted in the deaths of the driver and his two passengers.   

More than three months have passed since the horrific car accident that led to the deaths of three men in the Louis II tunnel in Monaco. 

Since then, investigators have been piecing together the puzzle of what exactly happened in the early hours of Saturday 1st April. 

Monaco’s Attorney General Morgan Raymond this week released the findings of that investigative report.

According to Monaco Matin, the three victims – all aged in their 30s – had been out partying in the Larvotto district on the evening of Friday 31st March before getting in to an Audi Q3 in the early hours of Saturday 1st April.   

Investigators determined that the car was driving at 156km/h inside the Louis II tunnel, and at around 4.16am it hit the wall near the Auditorium Rainier III at 148km/h before bursting into flames.

The report also reveals that the driver’s blood alcohol level was 1.76 grams per litre. The legal limit in Monaco is 0.5 grams.  

Drugs were also found in the driver’s system.

“While the accident is the consequence of a lack of control involving particularly excessive speed, this road behaviour is due to the recent and combined intake of cocaine and alcohol,” said Raymond, according to Monaco Matin. 

“This [elevated] consumption is likely to remove inhibitions, increase risk-taking and reduce the feeling of danger, in short, to reinforce a feeling of omnipresence and invulnerability, a phenomenon which undeniably increases the risk of accidents.”  

The fire that began almost immediately after the crash is believed to be due to petrol igniting in the engine and moving onto a damaged fuel tank.  

The three men that died in the accident were a French national and two Swiss men. One was a Monaco resident, one lived in France, and one was living in Switzerland. Two worked in Monaco’s finance and banking sector.

The report ruled out suggestions that there had been a fourth person in the car in the moments before the crash. 

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Photo of the accident scene provided to Monaco Life. The car in the scene has been removed out of sensitivity to the victims’ families.