Five deaf athletes die in Almaty-Bishkek highway accident
The road accident which occurred on the Almaty-Bishkek highway claimed lives of five hearing impaired athletes, Qazinform News Agency quotes Vice President of the National Deaflympics Committee and Head of the Road Safety Association Arssen Shakuov as saying.
“My father’s best friends, who were returning from Bishkek after participating in a football tournament for deaf veterans, got into a tragic accident in which five deaf veterans died at the scene. According to reports, a heavily loaded Kamaz truck traveling at very high speed crashed into their Honda Odyssey. I have known all of them personally since childhood - they were my father’s closest friends,” Shakuov says.
The victims are:
Assyl Ibraimov – football coach for deaf athletes;
Dmitry Mochalskiy - Deaflympics chess champion, European chess champion among deaf athletes;
Saken Smagulov – football veteran among the deaf, member of the National Deaf Football team;
Sergey Volkovinskiy - football veteran among the deaf, member of the National Deaf Football Team;
Serik Moldashev - football veteran among the deaf, member of the National Deaf Football Team;
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that seven people were killed after a crash involving a minivan and a car-trailer on Almaty-Bishkek highway.
