Bodies of Russian railwaymen who perished in Abkhazia sent to Chelyabinsk

Tonight, a special aircraft of the Russian Ministry for Emergencies (MfE) took off for Chelyabinsk with the bodies of four Russian railwaymen on board, who died in a traffic accident.

At the Sukhumi International Airport named after V. G. Ardzinba, from where the aircraft departed, it was seen off by Sergey Shamba, Prime Minister of Abkhazia, and Kristina Ozgan, Leonid Dzapshba and Zurab Marshaniya, Ministers of Economy, Interior and Public Health accordingly.

"Our representative Igor Marganiya, who is accompanying the special flight, will visit the casualties' families to express our condolences and hand over material assistance from our state," Mr Shamba has noted.

Let us note here that the Abkhazian government has allocated financial assistance amounting to 500,000 roubles to each of the four families of the perished Russian railwaymen.

Leonid Dzapshba, Minister of Internal Affairs of Abkhazia, called death in Sukhumi of the four Russian railwaymen a tragic accident for the whole of Abkhazia. "This is a great loss for all of us," the Minister stressed in an interview to journalists. "The driver of the foreign-made car who had committed the accident - Timur Gulariya - was detained. Currently in grave condition he is in Agudzeri hospital. The woman-passenger, who was in his car, is in the intensive care ward."

Meanwhile, the press service of the Prosecutor's Office has refuted the information of the Chelyabinsk regional "Channel One" that the driver, who had hit the pedestrians, was an employee of the prosecutor's office of Sukhumi, and that he fled from the place of the accident.

"The driver of the Mercedes car Timur Vladimirovich Gulariya, who committed at night on February 13 a road accident, where four Russian railway workers were killed, had never worked for any law enforcement bodies of Abkhazia. For more than five years he has been a legal adviser of the Sukhumi Physical-Technical Institute," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told at the press service of the Prosecutor's Office of Abkhazia.

The service also explained that on February 12 Gulariya headed the local self-government election commission.

"Gulariya did not escape from the place of the accident; he was brought to Agudzeri hospital in grave condition by unknown people who happened to be at the time of an accident in the area of the Sukhumi railway station," said the press service of the Prosecutor's Office. "At present, Gulariya takes his inpatient treatment in a special hospital room under guard of Abkhazian MIA agents."

Let us remind you that the accident happened at night on February 13, at about 00:03 a.m. Moscow time near No. 74 Dzidzariya Street, opposite the Sukhumi railway station. The driver of the Mercedes E-320 car lost control and hit the pedestrians, who were on the sidewalk in front of a grocery store. The fact of the accident has caused initiation of a criminal case under Article 263, Part 5, of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Abkhazia "Violation of traffic rules and vehicle operation, entailing death of two or more persons."