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A total of 15 people died in a fatal road accident in Russia’s republic of Mari El, a spokesman for the republican interior ministry said on Thursday, TASS reported.
According to a source in the local medical services, there is one child among those killed in the accident. Three children were taken to hospital. "Nineteen people were hurt, of whom 15 died, including one child. Four, including three children, were taken to hospital," the source said.
The accident took place at the 74th kilometer of a regional motorway some five kilometers off the village of Vizimyary on Thursday evening. A full-packed 20-seater passenger minibus was rammed by a timber truck.
An investigation into the accident is underway.
According to the republic’s head, Alexander Yvstifeyev, the minibus driver attempted an overtake but could not finish it to be rammed by the truck loaded with 40 cubic meters of timber.