Top Dagestan Official Dies in Moscow Car Crash

A top government official from Russia’s North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan has been killed in a multi-vehicle crash in western Moscow, city police said Friday, ria.ru reports.

Dagestan’s Deputy Prime Minister Haji Mahachev, 62, died late on Thursday after his Mercedes car veered into oncoming traffic on the city's Kutuzovsky Avenue, colliding with a Chevrolet minivan and causing a multi-car pile-up, a spokesman said.

Two people inside the minivan were also killed, and five people including Mahachev’s wife and three children were injured in the accident, police said. Mahachev was at the wheel at the time according to police.

His body is to be taken to Dagestan on Friday for his funeral, Dagestani government sources have said. A probe into the accident has been launched, the Interior Ministry said.