MOSCOW, August 14 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian serviceman in the country's south Urals was responsible for two car crashes in which seven people lost their lives and five more were injured, a police spokesman told RIA Novosti on Friday.
The incident occurred on Thursday in the Orenburg Region. It is not known if the soldier had been drinking.
According to emergency services, the first accident occurred when the contract soldier's reckless driving caused a collision between four-vehicles, including a KamAZ truck. The soldier was not caught up in the pile-up. The truck overturned and toppled onto a VAZ and a Skoda Octavia in the oncoming lane.
The drivers of the three cars and three of their passengers died at the scene. The truck driver and three other passengers were hospitalized.
"Ten minutes later...the same soldier, trying to overtake another KamAZ truck, collided into it and careered down a roadside ditch. The vehicle overturned," the spokesman said.
As the result of the second car accident, the soldier was hospitalized and his passenger died at the scene.
An investigation is ongoing.
Over 30,000 people lose their lives in traffic accidents in Russia every year. President Medvedev recently blamed the carnage on the poor state of the country's roads, as well as a "lack of discipline, and the criminal negligence of drivers."
