YEKATERINBURG, December 2 (Itar-Tass) —— The road accident, which injured Sverdlovsk Governor Alexander Misharin and killed another man, occurred at 8.30 p.m. local time (6.30 p.m. Moscow time) on December 1.
Volga, Skoda and Mercedes collided at about 9 p.m. local time (7 p.m. Moscow time) on the Yekaterinburg-Serov highway near the town of Krasnouralsk, a senior aide to the chief of the department for public relations of the regional branch of the Investigative Committee Alexander Shulga told Itar-Tass. Three people were injured. “The Volga driver died instantaneously and is being identified. The Mercedes driver and Misharin got various bodily injuries, particularly the governor broke the leg, both of them were taken to the hospital in the neighbouring town. Two people in the Skoda car were not injured, the investigators are interrogating them,” Shulga said. During the search at the road accident site the traffic was closed. The traffic was resumed now.
Misharin, who is being treated at the Krasnouralsk central hospital, is estimated to be in moderately severe condition, particularly he broke his leg. The doctors did not confirmed or rejected this report, but refrained from giving detailed information, offering the journalists to get in touch with the chief doctor or head of the regional government Anatoly Gredin.
A criminal case was opened over the road accident for violation of the traffic rules that entailed the death of a person through negligence, the press service of the Sverdlovsk regional branch of the Investigative Committee said. “The scope of investigative actions is being taken to find all details of the road accident. The investigation in the criminal case continues,” the press service reported.
Chief of the Sverdlovsk regional branch of the Investigative Committee Valery Zadorin noted that the cars clashed in a head-on collision and were substantially damaged. The cars were brought to the regional traffic police department and sealed off in the car boxes. “The investigators will examine these cars later. It is clear so far that the airbags were activated in both cars. The governor was sitting on the right backseat. It is still unclear whether he was fastened with the safety belt,” Zadorin said. The detectives do not have the information at what speed the cars were driving. “Naturally, the braking path was measured, but the conclusions about the speed will be made later. According to the preliminary theory, the car of the governor was moving on the correct lane at the moment of the road accident. The car was skidded on the middle of the road as a result of the collision,” Zadorin said, noting that the details will be made public, when the doctors will permit to speak with the governor and his driver.
Some malfunction in the car and the bad weather are considered as the reasons behind the road accident, Zadorin said. A slippery road was reported at this section of the highway and a heavy snowfall hampered the visibility, he said. “While we were driving for about 200 kilometres to the road accident site, we saw some more road accidents,” he said. The preliminary reason for the road accident to be named within three days, he underlined.