Vladimir Gabrielyan, First Deputy General Director of Russia's major social media corporation VKontakte (commonly known as VK) was killed in a tragic accident. Sergei Merzlyakov, the company's purchasing manager, died with him.
The Union of Reindeer Breeders of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug earlier reported that Gabrielyan and another person went missing near the village of Shoyna in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO).
According to the Union of Reindeer Breeders, Gabrielyan and three of his companions were traveling on all-terrain vehicles along the White Sea. On the Bugryanitsa River, the vehicles overturned and were swept away into the sea. Gabrielyan and Merzlyakov went missing. Two other people — Alena Gabrielyan and Sergey Olsevich — who were traveling with them, managed to get ashore.
"The bodies have been found. The search and rescue works has been completed. The survivors are in Naryan-Mar,” Vladislav Vyucheisky, a volunteer of the Liza Alert search and rescue team told RBC.
Earlier, it was reported that Gabrielyan, in a company with his wife Elena and friends, tried to cross a river in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug on two all-terrain vehicles. At one point of the adventure the vehicles overturned, and the current carried them away into the sea. The top manager's wife and Sergey Olsevich managed to get out of the vehicles — they survived. The vehicle of Gabrielyan and Merzlyakov was swept away into the sea.
The incident took place in a hard-to-reach location, which made the search complicated. Two local residents went by boat to the White Sea and rescued Elena Gabrielyan and Sergei Olsevich.