DUSHANBE, September 16, 2009, Asia-Plus — New details emerged on September 16 about a Tuesday traffic accident in Khatlon that involved Russian servicemen.
Two servicemen of the Russian space-surveillance center in Norak and three Tajik nationals working for the center as civilian personnel were killed in the traffic accident in the southern Khatlon province Tuesday evening, Russia’s news agency Interfax reports, referring to Lieutenant-Colonel Aleksey Zolotukhin, an aide to the commander of Russian Space Forces.
Zolotukhin told Interfax that the accident took place near the city of Norak Tuesday evening. Two servicemen of the space-surveillance center o the Russian Space forces in Norak and three Tajik nationals working for the center as civilian personnel were killed in the accident and ten other Russian servicemen received various injuries and were taken to the hospital in Norak as well as the hospital of the Russian base in Dushanbe, the aide said.
He noted that the commander of the Russian Space Forces, Major-General Oleg Ostapenko had left for Tajikistan to investigate the cause of the accident. “According to the preliminary investigation, a truck collided with a heavy truck KAMAZ carrying Russian servicemen and civilian personnel,” Zolotukhin said.
We will recall that the press service of the Tajik Ministry of Interior (MoI) had earlier reported that four Russian servicemen were killed and four others were injured Tuesday evening as their truck KAMAZ collided with minivan belonging to China’s construction company, China Road, in the southern Khatlon province. The accident took place on the highway from Dushanbe to Danghara, near the city of Norak.
“Minivan went into oncoming traffic and collided with a truck KAMAZ with servicemen of the Russian military base in Tajikistan on board” said the source, “As a result of collision, both vehicles overturned; four Russian servicemen, including the driver, Lieutenant-Colonel Pavel Kulakovsky and two contract servicemen were killed, while four other servicemen, including Captain Dmitry Danilov, Captain Ilya Puzanov and two contract servicemen, as well as the minivan driver received various injuries and were taken to the central city hospital in Norak.” KAMAZ with servicemen of the Russian military base and the Russian space-surveillance center in Norak on board was reportedly moving to the Tajik-Afghan border for operational training.
