Investigators conducted searches in the Makhachkala administration.

A new criminal case of negligence has been opened against Makhachkala officials responsible for the state of the city's road infrastructure due to the lack of barriers on the October Revolution Canal.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," on January 24 in Makhachkala, a car carrying people fell into the October Revolution Canal. Passersby came to the aid of the passenger and child. According to the prosecutor's office, the driver was able to escape on his own. In early February, the republic's Investigative Committee reported that a case of negligence had been opened against officials of the Makhachkala administration and the Housing and Utilities Department following the incident.

Investigators in Makhachkala conducted searches of the city administration in connection with a negligence case opened in connection with multiple car falls into the October Revolution Canal. Documentation related to the organization of road infrastructure and traffic safety, as well as "other items and materials" of interest to the investigation, were seized during the searches.

According to the republic's Investigative Committee, a new criminal case for negligence has been opened against Makhachkala officials (Part 2 of Article 293 of the Russian Criminal Code provides for arrest for up to three months). However, specific suspects in the case are still being identified.

According to investigators, Makhachkala City Hall officials and employees of municipal government agencies responsible for road management, landscaping, and traffic safety improperly performed their duties and failed to install barriers along the October Revolution Canal.

They are also accused of improperly maintaining several local roads in Makhachkala, including the village of Leninkent. Investigators believe this is the reason for "repeated instances of vehicles overturning into the canal," the department's official Telegram channel reported today.

The Investigative Committee did not report the results of the criminal case previously opened under the same article.

Car accidents in the KOR have occurred regularly for many years. For example, on February 4, 2024, a car driven by a 23-year-old Makhachkala resident fell into the Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsiya Canal. Two passengers, children aged 10 and 14, were taken to the hospital in serious condition, where one of them died. Following this, authorities reported installing concrete barriers along the most dangerous sections of the canal. Fences should have been installed, before the tragedy, and along the entire length of the canal within the city limits, social media users pointed out.

A car also fell into the canal on February 15, 2022. Instagram* users pointed out at the time that this was happening due to the lack of fences along the canal and narrow roadway. On January 11, 2020, a car carrying a family with a four-year-old child fell into the canal. A passing police officer helped them out of the water. On December 24, 2014, a similar accident killed a 25-year-old driver and his passenger. On October 5 of the same year, a Gazelle passenger van fell off a bridge into the canal. The driver and two passengers were rescued.

In Makhachkala, it is impossible to install fences along the canal because access to the water body cannot be blocked, the director of the KOR department stated after another accident in February 2022.

By law, the area next to the KOR is a nature conservation zone, and fences cannot be installed there, Ziyautdin Uvaisov, head of the Housing and Utilities Monitor, explained to the Caucasian Knot in February 2024. "I don't know what the right solution is; there must be a comprehensive solution," he said.