Car crash: Two Georgian military cadets die in US

Georgian officials are expressing sadness following the death of two aspiring servicemen, who lost their lives in a tragic car accident in the United States (US).

The two Georgian military cadets were in a vehicle that lost control while travelling on icy roads in the US state of New Jersey yesterday.

Cadets Besarion Gorjoladze and Soso Makaridze were studying at the US Coast Guard Academy, located in Connecticut.

Makaridze was a fourth year student. He had been studying in the US since 2011. Meanwhile Gorjoladze, a second year student, entered the US Coast Guard Academy in 2013.

"Both were Georgian patriots committed to advancing their nation's security and had been selected by the Georgian Armed Forces to receive Coast Guard education in the United States,” said US Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland.

"Ambassador Norland and the entire staff of the US Embassy in Tbilisi were deeply saddened to learn of the deaths of [the Georgian cadets],” the Embassy’s statement read.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Georgia’s Defence Ministry also expressed their "deepest sorrow” by the "immense loss” and extended their "deepest sympathies” to the families, friends, and military colleagues of the deceased cadets "at this trying time”.