SUKHUM, September 9. /TASS/. Prime Minister of Abkhazia Gennady Gaguliya died in a traffic accident on Saturday evening, press secretary of the republican government Diana Zantariya told TASS.

The traffic accident occurred near the Myussera militia post, she said. According to information available, the driver and security guards of the prime minister were not injured.

The accident occurred at about 23.00 Moscow time at the Psou - Sukhum motorway, the Abkhazia’s Cabinet of Ministers said on its website.

"The car with the prime minister was in the cortege of the official delegation of Abkhazia returning from the Syrian Arab Republic. According to preliminary data, nobody was injured as a result of the accident," the statement says.

Gaguliya was appointed to the office of the prime minister in April 2018. He was the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Republic before the appointment. </s> The prime minister of the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia died late Saturday in a car crash as his motorcade returned from the airport following a visit to Syria.

The motorcade carrying Gennady Gaguliya was struck by a car that entered the oncoming lane, Deputy Interior Minister Kazbek Kimshakov told the TASS news agency. The accident occurred around 8 p.m. GMT.

Kimshakov said the driver was a young Abkhazian and that the incident was being investigated.

The prime minister's driver and security guard were injured in the accident.

"They were delivered to the hospital. The condition is assessed as critical but doctors assured they will survive," assistant prosecutor general Daur Achimba told TASS.

Gaguliya had taken part in a visit to Syria to meet with members of the Abkhaz diaspora, according to a government website.

Abkhazia's independence is only recognized by a few countries, primarily Russia. Georgia considers the region to still be part of its territory, though it has not had effective control of either Abkhazia or another breakaway region, South Ossetia, since a 2008 war with Russia.
The prosecutor in Abkhazia says that the driver of the car that probably initiated the deadly accident of Prime Minister of Abkhazia Gennady Gagulya yesterday was under the influence of drugs and has been detained.