Went on vacation with his wife and daughters, but never returned home. 38-year-old Minsk resident Siarhei died in an accident in Georgia
Four Belarusians died in a terrible accident that occurred on August 12 on a mountain road in Georgia. Among them is Siarhei Rybalau.
He came on vacation with his wife Liubou and two young daughters. They were also in the minivan, which plunged into a gorge while descending from the high-mountain resort of Gomismta.
Siarhei Rybalau worked at JSC "Gazprom transgaz Belarus". His wife Liubou is from Hrodna; she is 35 years old. The family lived in Minsk and was raising two young daughters.
Siarhei's social media accounts contain photos from his travels, including around Europe, as well as pictures on a snow-covered reservoir, next to a drilled ice hole and an ice auger. Judging by this, ice fishing was one of his hobbies.
They went to Georgia for a vacation as a whole family.
On the evening of August 12, a group of Belarusian tourists was returning from Gomismta — a high-mountain resort village in the Georgian region of Guria. Gomismta is called a "resort above the clouds." People go there for views of the mountains, sunsets, and the Black Sea. However, the road to and from the village passes through steep slopes and serpentines.
At the 16th kilometer of the road towards Ozurgeti, the minivan veered off the roadway, plunged into a gorge, and crashed into a tree. There were 19 Belarusian citizens in the vehicle. Four of them died, and another 15 were injured. Among the injured were six children.
In addition to Siarhei Rybalau, the victims of the accident were 21-year-old Hleb Melnik and his 20-year-old fiancée Anastasiya Filiuk from Brest. The young couple was planning to get married and went on a trip after their engagement. The fourth fatality was 55-year-old Zhanna.
According to eyewitnesses, during the minivan's fall, Siarhei was thrown through the windshield. He ended up lower on the slope and did not die immediately. His wife and daughters remained at the top. They saw Siarhei but could do nothing.
The rescue operation in the gorge lasted several hours. Some passengers were thrown through the windows, while others were trapped in the damaged minivan. The injured were taken to hospitals in Batumi, Ozurgeti, and Chokhatauri. Initially, two were in intensive care, but doctors reported that there was no immediate threat to their lives. By August 16, 12 Belarusians, including five children, had been discharged from hospitals. Three others remained under doctors' supervision.
Immediately after the tragedy, conflicting versions of the driver's behavior emerged in Georgian and Belarusian media. Some publications, citing local residents, claimed that he managed to jump out of the vehicle. Eyewitnesses to the accident, on the contrary, say that the driver did not leave the minivan while it was moving and himself sustained severe injuries. The official statement from the Georgian prosecutor's office does not mention the driver jumping.
It turned out that the driver did not have the license category required for transporting such a number of people.
The driver was also injured. On August 15, he was taken from the hospital to the Ozurgeti District Court. The court decided to keep the man in custody. He is accused of violating traffic safety rules, which led to the death of more than two people. The maximum penalty under this article is ten years of imprisonment.
Last Return to Minsk
On August 17, the bodies of all four deceased were delivered to Minsk by a single flight.
Siarhei Rybalau was buried in Minsk on Wednesday, August 19.
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