Eight killed in crash; taxi driver blamed

NALCHIK, Russia, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A taxi driver was blamed for a head-on collision that killed eight people in Russia's Caucasus region Thursday and seriously injured five others.

The unidentified driver, one of the eight killed, had driven his taxi van into an oncoming-traffic lane of the Kavkaz federal motorway, colliding head-on with a truck, authorities said.

The pavement was wet and temperatures were near freezing at the time of the 7:30 a.m. accident, authorities in Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkar told state news agency ITAR-Tass.

The truck driver survived.

The taxi driver had been running on a fixed route to Pyatigorsk, a city in Stavropol Krai, from the town of Nartakala, 16 miles northeast of Nalchik.

The same taxi driver received a ticket for a similar offense two months ago and had worked since then with a temporary driver's license, officials said.

An inquest was under way.

The highway was shut down near the accident during the morning rush hour.