Tragic Crash on Almaty-Bishkek Highway Kills Deaf Athletes

A deadly accident on the Almaty-Bishkek highway has claimed the lives of five hearing-impaired athletes returning from a football tournament for deaf veterans.

A heavily loaded Kamaz truck traveling at high speed collided with their Honda Odyssey, killing all passengers on the spot, The Caspian Post reports via Kazakh media.

Among the victims were football veterans and champions: Assyl Ibraimov, football coach for deaf athletes; Dmitry Mochalskiy, Deaflympics and European chess champion; and Saken Smagulov, Sergey Volkovinskiy, and Serik Moldashev, members of the National Deaf Football Team.

Arssen Shakuov, Vice President of the National Deaflympics Committee, described the victims as his father’s closest friends, highlighting the deep personal loss behind this tragic incident.