Truck driver who fell asleep causes major accident in Samarkand

A truck driver fell asleep at the wheel in Samarkand region today, May 16, and crashed into two other trucks, the regional Traffic Safety Department reported.

According to the report, the accident occurred at around 4:30 a.m. on the 118th kilometre of the M-37 Samarkand-Bukhara-Turkmenbashi highway, which passes through the Boltali mahalla in Pakhtachi district. The driver was travelling in a FAW truck from Samarkand toward Navoi when he fell asleep at the wheel. As a result, he lost control of the vehicle and hit the left side of a SINOTRUK HOWO truck that was parked on the roadside in the same direction. Unable to stop the vehicle, the driver then crashed into the rear of another SINOTRUK HOWO truck parked ahead in the same lane.

The collision caused a fire in the FAW and SINOTRUK HOWO trucks. The blaze was extinguished by Emergency Situations Department personnel.

Officials said no injuries or fatalities were reported. A preliminary inquiry into the incident is being conducted by the Road Traffic Safety Group of the Public Security Service under the Pakhtachi District Department of Internal Affairs.

It is worth noting that a motorcycle earlier hit a 15-year-old girl in the city of Almalyk, Tashkent region. As a result of the accident, her right leg and left heel bone were severed.