Public funeral for Georgian cadets held in US today

A public funeral for the two Georgian military cadets who died in a tragic accident in the United States (US) earlier this week will be held in the US state of New Jersey today.

Cadets Besarion Gorjoladze and Soso Makaridze were in a vehicle that lost control while traveling on icy roads in New Jersey on March 8.

Georgia’s Consulate in New York organised their civil funeral and shared a details of today’s commemoration in a special statement.

"The civil funeral will be held at 232 Kipp Avenue, Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604. The Georgian Consulate expresses its condolences to the family and friends of the deceased men.”

"Private Soso Makaridze and Private Besarion Gorjoladze are a tremendous loss for Georgian society and the professional army,” read the statement.

Gorjoladze and Makaridze were studying at the US Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut.

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

American and international cadets changed their profile pictures on Facebook to the Georgian flag to express their sadness.

After the accident many American and international cadets who studied alongside the Georgians, changed their profile pictures on Facebook to the Georgian flag as a way to express their sadness and offer their condolences and solidarity to Georgia.

After the US funeral, the bodies of Gorjoladze and Makaridze will be returned to Georgia.