Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that at 2 a.m.on 2 January military vehicle UAZ-469 transporting border guards went out of control at a reservoir at Turkmenistan’s northern border.
As a result of the incident one soldier and the officer driving the vehicle died.Two other border guards who were passengers have been admitted to hospital with injuries and frost bite.
It is reported that at the time of the accident the outside temperature fell to -10 degrees Celsius, it was very foggy and the road was covered with black ice.
The military personnel were en route to the border crossing checkpoint to perform their duties. At the bridge over the water channel which flows into Sarykamysh lake, the driver lost control of the vehicle and the car turned over and sank. At this point the depth of the canal is 3-4 meters.
The military officers who arrived at the scene located an empty vehicle.The conscript’s body was found a week later but the officer’s body has not been found so far.
It was allegedly carried away by the lake’s current, which makes search and rescue operations more complicated.The lake area amounts to 4000 square kilometers with one part being located on the territory of Uzbekistan.
Search and rescue efforts are underway.
Criminal charges were initiated to look into the accident.