Akayev was killed in the line of duty on 26 February 1944 along with seven other members of his regiment while leading a mission that successfully destroyed a heavily-defended airfield used in the bombing of Leningrad that was considered unattackable. Three days before his death, the NKVD began the deportation of the Chechen and Ingush people into exile, which included Akayev's family; his mother received the last letter from her son just one day before the deportation. While in exile when she inquired about the fate of her son, she was only told vaguely that he had not returned from a mission.