Heads of the pension funds of North Ossetia and Ingushetia were killed after their car crashed into a gas pipeline early on Saturday, an emergencies department spokeswoman said.
The accident occurred on the Kavkaz federal highway in North Ossetia between the villages of Zmeiskoye and Stavdort at 0:50 local time.
"The head of the North Ossetian Pension Fund, Soslan Kanatov, and the head of the Ingush Pension Fund, Akhmed Khashagulgov, were killed in the accident," Yulia Starchenko, a spokeswoman for the North Ossetian emergencies ministry, said adding that the driver was injured and survived the crash.
She said that officials were both riding a Toyota Camry, when a tire burst, the car swerved of the highway and crashed into a gas pipeline, which was seriously damaged.
The village of Stavdort with a population of some 1,200 people, she said, was left without supplies of gas, which is mainly used for heating purposes.
Starchenko added that the pipeline repair works would start in the morning.
ROSTOV-ON-DON/VLADIKAVKAZ, December 19 (RIA Novosti)
