On November 29, three Vaishnavas from Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia died in a car accident. The devotees – Ananga Mohan Das, Adhi Yagya Das and Bhakta Lev Khramilov – were in a hurry to Izhevsk, taking part with enthusiasm in the traditional Srila Prabhupada book distribution marathon.

According to the traffic police, the tragedy took place at the 63rd kilometer of the Elabuga–Perm highway at 6 p.m. Suddenly, the BMW-316 driven by Adhi Yagya Das went to the wrong side and crashed into a truck, which was moving in the opposite direction. As a result, Adhi Yagya, Ananga Mohan and Lev Khramilov received fatal injuries.

The cause of the horrible accident is not yet known. Adhi Yagya had 15 years of driving experience. Ananga Mohan was 42, Adhi Yagya was 36, Lev Khramilov was just 23 years old.

The truck driver was not hurt. He was the one who called the police.

The fourth devotee who was with them – Sergey Smirnov from Vologda – is still being hospitalized in Mozhga. According to Ananta Sesa Das, temple president in Nizhniy Novgorod, Sergey`s condition is now stable. The doctors operated on him, removed his spleen. He got several fractures, severe cerebral injury, but luckily there is no hemorrhage. Sergey regained consciousness and was able to utter “Haribol!” when he saw the devotees, who came to visit him.

The farewell ceremony to Ananga Mohan and Adhi Yagya took place in the Nizhny Novgorod temple. There was kirtan, the devotees prayed to the Lord, the temple Dieties and to Srila Prabhupada and remembered about the sublime nature of these Vaishnavas. Then the bodies left for Moscow, where there was another ceremony for them in the Moscow temple.

The body of Lev Khramilov was buried in Nizhniy Novgorod in the presence of his mother.

Lev was the youngest among the three devotees. He got to know the Vaishnava tradition less than a year ago. He found the address of the temple on the Internet and showed up there expressing an ardent desire to serve. He accepted Srila Prabhupada’s instructions as his life and soul. It was Ananga Mohan who introduced him to the devotees. As Radharani Dasi from Nizhny Novgorod says, “Lev`s mother is stricken with sorrow, but she is grateful to the devotees for everything they did for her son”.

ISKCON Russia pays respects to all the relatives and friends of the Vaishnavas who passed away.