Rockfall hits car of tourists on Tusheti road

А large rock fell on a car full of tourists heading to Tusheti, north eastern Georgia, on 10 August. They were lightly injured. There are frequent accidents on the Tusheti road, which are often fatal.

The road to Tusheti is only open from May to October, with several families staying in the region over winter completely cut off.

Road accidents often occur due to negligence of drivers, and also because of landslides and avalanches. The majority of accidents occur in the summer, in the tourist season.

People from Tusheti blame the police for the accidents, complaining that they do not monitor the situation on the roads with very often drunk drivers drive through dangerous sections of the road.

According to Mtis Ambebi, a local media outlet, no one has been fined for speeding or driving drunk over the past three years on the Tusheti road.

A 22-year-old man died on 24 July on a road near the village Bochorna, when his car fell into a ravine.

In 2016, the country was shocked after two children aged 5 and 10 died in an accident. Their parents and two other children were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

There is only one road leading to Tusheti, which starts from Alvani, Akhmeta Municipality.

In August 2016 Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili met with the locals and promised to build a new road of ‘European standards’ to Tusheti, which would be ‘much safer’.

The government announced a tender on 9 August last year to build the 200 kilometre long road to for about $60 million. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, construction will start in 2018 and end in 2020.

A spokesperson for the ministry’s Roads Department told OC Media that they are still working on the project.

‘The tender is over. We announced the winning company which will implement the project in the future’, she said.

Tusheti is a popular tourist destination which lies 1,900–2,000 metres above the sea level. The BBC described the road to Tusheti as one of the most dangerous roads in the world.