Flight 321 dead bodies at the crash site. Crash of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt. Kogalymavia considers external influences to be the cause of the A321 crash
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations found 111 passports of victims of the A321 crash in Sinai. 16 people escaped death in the Egyptian plane crash, while some of the bodies of the victims of the plane crash in Egypt have been identified. The President expressed condolences to the families of the victims and thanked everyone who supported them.
Plane crash in Egypt, latest news: more bodies of victims found under the fuselage of the crashed A321
Russian rescuers discovered more fragments of the bodies of those killed in the A321 crash on the Sinai Peninsula in the place where the central part of the airliner’s fuselage is located, LifeNews reports.
“During the inspection of the airliner, Russian rescuers, using the Rosenbauer rescue vehicle, lifted a new part of the plane’s fuselage and discovered new remains of the plane’s passengers,” he said. intkbbach Director of the Department of Fire and Rescue Forces and Special Forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Alexander Agafonov. According to him, this part of the fuselage was lying upside down on the ground.
“The wreckage is scattered over a wide area, which confirms the information that the plane began to collapse while still in the air,” he added, noting that, despite the difficult conditions, the work of the teams will continue until nightfall.
Meanwhile, sources in the Federal Air Transport Agency told LifeNews that based on the location of the bodies of the dead and the wreckage of the airliner, an approximate picture of the crash of the airliner has already been established. According to preliminary data, the first victims of the A321 crash were passengers in the tail section of the airliner.
After the tail section of the airbus fell off at an altitude of almost 9 thousand meters, some of the passengers fell out. Search teams found some bodies of victims several kilometers from the crash site.
Part of the bodies of plane crash victims in Egypt identified
Relatives of those killed in St. Petersburg have identified some of the victims of the Kogalymavia plane crash, Vesti.Ru reports. The plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations delivered 140 bodies of the dead to the Northern capital from Egypt. On the evening of November 2, another plane is expected to take off from Cairo with the bodies of the dead.
The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations discovered 111 passports of victims of the A321 crash in Sinai
Meanwhile, employees of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, who are currently continuing the search operation at the crash site of the Airbus A321, found 111 passports of victims of the plane crash during the day.
“Among the documents found at the crash site are passports of Ukrainian citizens. Work continues. Rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations are working in a hollow where a large fragment of an airplane with personal belongings and an inflatable ladder was found,” Agafonov said.
It is also noted that rescuers have to work in extremely difficult conditions - in Sinai there is now unbearable heat, plus elevation changes and a huge territory to explore. The search area today has increased from four kilometers to 12. 74 Emergency Situations Ministry employees are combing the territory.
“The height difference in the hollow is 120 meters, and rescuers descend there using a rope. All found items are packed and delivered to the base camp, which is located 12 kilometers away,” says the director of the department.
French specialists have begun work at the crash site, and representatives of the IAC and Egyptian aviation authorities are also working.
16 people were able to escapedeath in Egyptian plane crash
Kogalymavia airline confirms that 16 people did not fly from St. Petersburg to Egypt on the next flight after the A321 crash, RIA Novosti reported, citing a statement from a representative of the airline's press service.
“At the moment, we only have information that on the day of what happened, on the day of the crash on the flight St. Petersburg - Sharm el-Sheikh (the return flight that the crashed A321 was supposed to make), 16 people did not fly and two people were removed for purely human reasons,” said the press service representative.
The President expressed condolences to the families of the victims and thanked everyone who supported them
Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded that work be carried out to investigate all the causes of the A321 crash until all the details of the tragedy are clarified, writes KP.
“Everything must be done to determine the cause of the plane crash so that we respond accordingly,” the president said.
Putin also said that the issue of assistance to the families of those killed in the plane crash should be resolved as soon as possible. He separately thanked the residents of St. Petersburg, who supported and empathized with the relatives of the victims.
“In such tragedies, in such hours, it is certainly very important to feel the shoulder of loved ones, the empathy of the entire country regarding this terrible catastrophe,” said Vladimir Putin.
About the plane crash in Egypt
Airbus 321, flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg, crashed on October 31. Shortly after taking off from the Egyptian airport, the crew of the airliner stopped communicating. It was reported that the plane dropped sharply by 1.5 kilometers, after which it disappeared from radar screens. Before losing contact, the pilot requested permission to land at Cairo airport, airport officials said.
Later the exact location of the plane crash became known. There were 224 people on board the A321 - seven crew members and 217 passengers, including, according to unconfirmed reports, 25 children. This plane crash became the largest in the history of Russian and Soviet aviation.
A motley crowd of tourists, a vibrant underwater world that attracts divers from all over the world - all this attracts travelers. Russians were eager to go there as if they were going to a second dacha: at least a week to rest from work and bask in the sun. Whole families flew until the plane crash in Egypt on October 31, 2015 forced the entire country to shudder.
Tragic accident
A tourist group from the Brisco company was returning on a charter flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. Despite the early morning (departure at 5.50 local time), the passengers were in excellent spirits. They posted pictures of their successful vacation on social networks. It was Saturday, and on Monday many had to plunge into work; some had work, others had to study.
The Airbus A321-231 EI-ETJ airliner, which arrived from Samara, took 217 passengers on board. They and seven crew members had to be in the Northern capital by 12 noon, where many had relatives and friends waiting at the airport. Having reached a given altitude of 9400 meters in 23 minutes, at a speed of 520 km/h the aircraft suddenly disappeared from the radar. At 6.15 (7.15 Moscow) the plane crashed in the Sinai Peninsula near El-Arish airport - the hottest spot in Egypt, where government troops were confronted by Al-Qaeda Islamists.
Versions of the tragedy
Those meeting flight 9268 at Pulkovo Airport anxiously watched the board, which displayed the information: “Arrival delayed.” And by evening, the whole country knew that the wreckage of the aircraft that had disappeared from radar had been discovered by the Egyptian authorities. Scattered over a length of 13 kilometers, with the tail section torn off, they were shown on television, which gave rise to many versions of experts about the possible causes of the disaster. Three were considered the most reliable:
- Technical problems associated either with engine failure or metal fatigue. In the tail section, traces of skin repairs were found after the aircraft touched the asphalt with its tail while landing at Cairo airport in 2001. The resulting microcrack could cause the destruction of the aircraft as it climbed.
- The plane crash in Egypt was caused by the crew's mistakes.
- Terrorist act.
The IAC commission, headed by Egyptian representative Ayman al-Mukkadam, began working at the site of the tragedy. It included representatives of Russia, France, Germany, the USA and Ireland. After studying the evidence and decoding, the first two versions were found unfounded.
Aircraft
The A321 crash over the Sinai Peninsula was the largest in the history of Egypt and modern Russia. The airbus belonged to the Kogalymavia company, which underwent a thorough inspection. It was found that after the 2001 emergency, the aircraft was repaired in France at the manufacturer's plant, after which all the necessary tests were carried out. Over 18 years of operation, the airliner flew less than 50% of its service life (57,428 hours) and was in good condition. This is evidenced by weekly technical checks, the last of which was carried out on October 26, 2015. The flight recorders did not detect any system malfunction. Until the 23rd minute, the flight proceeded quite normally.
Crew
Forty-eight-year-old crew commander Valery Nemov is a graduate of SVAAULSH (Stavropol Military School). He is one of the few who, in the difficult 90s, retrained to fly on Airbuses since 2008, having 12 thousand flight hours, which testifies to his enormous experience. The second pilot also came from military aviation, being a veteran of the Chechen campaign. After retiring, Sergei Trukhachev retrained on the A321, having undergone training in the Czech Republic. I flew them for more than 2 years. The total flight time was 6 thousand hours. Both pilots were in good standing with their airline. Nemov was even called back from vacation prematurely to be sent on the infamous flight 9268.
Official version
Two weeks after the tragedy, the version of the terrorist attack was officially voiced by the head of the FSB during a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation. To support his words, he provided the following evidence:
- American satellites recorded a thermal flash over Sinai during the disaster, which indicates an explosion occurred on board the plane.
- The fuselage fragment has a hole with a diameter of about one meter. Its edges are curved outward. This indicates that the source of the explosion was inside.
- When decoding the recorder recording the negotiations, before the recording is interrupted, extraneous noise is heard, the nature of which can be attributed to a blast wave.
- The plane crash in Egypt caused great public outcry. After a while, they not only admitted responsibility for the terrorist attack, but also posted a photo of an improvised explosive device (IED) on the pages of Dabig magazine.
- Some of the victims had injuries indicating death from the consequences of the explosion (burns, tissue ruptures).
- Traces of explosives - TNT molecules - were found in fragments of shrapnel, luggage and on the bodies of the victims.
The power of the explosion was estimated at 1 kilogram. The estimated location of the IED is the tail of the aircraft. For the blast wave moved forward, but the fracture of the fuselage prevented its further advancement.
Plane crash in Egypt: who is to blame?
After the Russian version appeared, it became known that 17 employees were detained at the Egyptian airport. The main question was one: “How did the IED get on board the airliner?” The FSB began studying the biographies of 34 passengers (11 men and 23 women) who had TNT molecules on their bodies. But official Egypt soon stated that there was no evidence for a clear statement about a terrorist attack on board the plane. None of the employees were actually arrested. Russian authorities have announced a $50 million reward for any information about the terrorists.
Only in February 2016 did the Egyptian President officially acknowledge the terrorist attack. It was discovered that the bomb was made from plasticite, which is used to create military projectiles. It is powered by a clock mechanism. The plane crash in Egypt on October 31, 2015 showed that the airport security system does not meet international standards. The IED could have come on board the food supply company, through employees with access to the runway, or through carry-on luggage during baggage checks. The latest data is such that it was in the cabin in the immediate vicinity of place 31A. All these facts led to a ban on the sale of holiday tours in Egypt.
Flight passengers
EI-ETJ - the last digits of the Airbus number. According to them, the aviators called the board “Juliet” among themselves, affectionately “Dzhulka”. On that tragic morning, she broke up three aviation marriages and killed a young steward who replaced a colleague who had quit due to a bad dream. It also took the lives of 217 passengers, 25 of whom were children. Those killed in a plane crash in Egypt are entire families, dozens of destroyed love stories, babies who will never grow up. Ten-month-old Darina Gromova was on this flight with her parents. Her mother posted her photo on a social network before the flight. A girl stands at the airport facing the runway, and below is the signature: “Main Passenger.” This picture became a symbol of the tragic flight from which no one was able to return.
Almost all passengers are Russians, 4 people are citizens of Ukraine, 1 is from Belarus. The majority are residents of St. Petersburg, although there are also representatives of other regions: Pskov, Novgorod, Ulyanovsk. Those killed in the plane crash in Egypt are people of various professions. Even while relatives were busy identifying the bodies, caring people were forming a collective portrait of the passengers, collecting information about them bit by bit. A wonderful gallery was created, where there were many good words about everyone.
Almost a year later
On July 31, Moscow and St. Petersburg held a rally in memory of those killed over the Sinai. Nine months passed: many relatives received compensation, identified and buried their loved ones, but the pain did not subside. On August 5, 2016, a message was received that forty-five militants led by Abu Dua al-Ansari, through whose fault the plane crash occurred in Egypt, were killed during a military operation near El-Arish. I really want to believe that something like this will never happen again!
A year has passed since the terrible plane crash over Sinai, which claimed the lives of 224 people. This period became a very difficult test for the relatives of the victims. New photographs from the scene of the plane crash appeared in the media every now and then, and on social networks scammers tried to profit from the grief of others by posing as family members of the victims of the terrorist attack. After the death of their relatives, some went deep into themselves, others began to divide their children and living space, and still others still cannot bury their loved ones, because the bodies of six people have still not been identified. AiF.ru found out how the relatives of those killed over the Sinai live a year after the tragedy.
Those greeting us hoped until the very end that the plane would land in St. Petersburg. Photo: AiF/ Yana Khvatova
“The last wish is to find the culprits”
A year after the Airbus A321 crashed over Sinai, the investigation into the deaths of 224 people continues. Those who planted the bomb on the plane have not yet been found, but recently experts were able to identify the specific place where the explosives were located: the terrorists hid TNT between baby carriages at the rear of the plane. New information about the progress of the investigation appears in the media almost every day, but most of the relatives of the victims do not follow this news: anyway, their loved ones cannot be brought back, and constant reminders of the tragedy only open up still fresh wounds.
Emergency Situations Ministry employees provided psychological assistance to the relatives of the flight passengers. Photo: AiF/ Yana Khvatova
Petersburg woman Natalya Zavgorodnyaya, who lost her parents on October 31, 2015, devotes all her free time to helping abandoned animals. “Natasha threw herself into her work,” the girl’s friends say. “It helps take your mind off grief.” Natasha helps animals, looking for a new home for them. All publications and stories cause her even more pain.” Mother Alexey Gromov, who died along with his wife Tatiana and 10 month old daughter Darina, on the contrary, is closely monitoring the progress of the investigation. According to the woman, her life is over, but one last wish remains: that those responsible for the death of her children and granddaughter, “the most important passenger” of flight No. 9268, be punished.
Relatives of the plane's passengers tried to find information about the flight. Photo: AiF/ Yana Khvatova
Compensation for the death of relatives
Currently, all families of the victims have received monetary compensation. The relatives were paid a million rubles each by the St. Petersburg authorities, and another million by the insurance company. True, to receive this money, some people had to spend a lot of time and nerves. It turned out that compensation is provided only for immediate relatives - children and parents. Compensation for the dead grandchildren, grandmothers or grandfathers had to be sought in court. I encountered this problem Shein family, who lost in a plane crash not only her adult children, but also three grandchildren. Now all financial issues have finally been settled.
About 70 families with whom I worked lawyer Igor Trunov, will receive an additional million dollars from the American leasing company International Lease Finance Corporation, the owner of the crashed Airbus. The matter did not come to court proceedings: the company has already confirmed its readiness to make payments. Most families did not turn to a well-known lawyer: for many, the three million rubles they had already received were enough. Besides, as we know, money cannot relieve grief.
After the terrible news, information about the flight was removed from Pulkovo electronic displays. Photo: AiF/ Yana Khvatova
Return of the Prodigal Father
It was money relations that became a bone of contention in many families of the victims. So, after the disaster, the father of the deceased Alisa Vitalieva, who had not communicated with his daughter for many years, immediately appeared on the horizon. The girl's mother and his ex-wife Irina also died in the plane crash. When Denis and Irina Vitaliev divorced, the woman raised her daughter alone, and the ex-husband did not participate in the girl’s life in any way and did not pay alimony: he had a new family. However, Irina was calm about the girl’s future, because Alice was supposed to inherit the apartment of her grandmother, Irina’s mother. When the tragedy occurred, the girl’s father immediately rushed to St. Petersburg, received compensation in the amount of 3 million rubles for her death and told his ex-mother-in-law, Elena Stepanovna Voitenko that now, by law, he claims half of her apartment, since Alice will no longer inherit.
The 63-year-old pensioner was outraged by such impudence, but then she had no time to sort things out: the pain of losing her beloved daughter and granddaughter was too great. Meanwhile, Denis Vitaliev, realizing that the law was on his side, wrote an application for inheritance. Currently, the conflict between the former relatives remains open: they have to go through many trials. “He did not raise his daughter and did not help financially,” says Alisa’s grandmother. “And now I’ve written an application for inheritance, although I promised not to lay claim to my home.” He decided to take the last thing away from me!”
On October 31, 2015, emergency workers and an ambulance were on duty near the airport. Photo: AiF/ Yana Khvatova
6 people are still not buried
Brother of Irina Vitalieva Alexander, unlike his careless son-in-law, did not try to take away anyone’s property, but organized a charitable foundation to help the relatives of those killed in the Flight 9268 disaster over Sinai. A St. Petersburg resident who lost his sister and niece found the strength to support other people. Alexander organizes memorial events in the city and is actively working to approve a monument to the victims of the terrorist attack.
According to the foundation, several families still cannot bury their loved ones: six of the dead have not yet been identified. Their remains are kept in the St. Petersburg crematorium all year, but are not subject to examination to establish their identity. People are patiently waiting for the newly discovered remains in Egypt, after being studied, to be transferred to St. Petersburg so that relatives can identify and bury their dead loved ones. If the identification procedure does not take place, the remains of six people will be buried in a mass grave.
Exactly one year after the tragedy, at 7:14 a.m. on October 31, a memorial service for the dead passengers of flight 9268 will be held in the Trinity Cathedral of St. Petersburg. On this day, their relatives will gather together again to remember those who can no longer be returned.
In memory of the victims of the Sinai disaster, 224 flying cranes were created in St. Petersburg. Photo: Charitable Foundation "Flight 9268"
Place of death in the ninth row
Relatives of those killed in the plane crash are now sticking together. They still have to complete a difficult journey: obtain the results of a DNA examination, then death certificates for loved ones, apply for insurance payments, and bury their relatives. Now 58 people have been officially identified. 38 names were announced - these are those who considered it necessary to make the information public.
Infographics: Alexander Voitenko
Alexander Voitenko lost his sister and niece in the tragedy. Today, this person carefully monitors all the details of the plane crash and shares it with those who are unable to monitor the news about the tragedy that claimed the lives of their loved ones.
Afterwards, Voitenko drew up a plan for the aircraft. I marked with dots those passengers who could be identified visually. Almost all of them were sitting in the back of the plane.
Before us is a plan of the crashed A321 aircraft. Passengers who have been identified are marked with blue dots.
It was possible to identify 53 of the 58 officially identified. The dots on the diagram indicate those dead whose bodies were preserved and who were visually identified.
The diagram shows: at the end of the plane there are 29 people. 11 – in the center. 6 – at the beginning. Crew – 5 people. Cockpit – 2 people.
Visually it was possible to identify mainly the bodies of those passengers who were sitting in the rear. In the center - almost everyone was burned alive. The victims who were sitting at the front of the liner will be very difficult to identify. The crew members were practically impossible to visually identify. The pilots and flight attendants were identified by their uniforms, says Alexander Voitenko. The end of the DNA examination is scheduled for November 24-25. - They both promise to give back personal belongings a little later - in about 2 weeks. Employees of the Investigative Committee carried out an examination of the luggage, took samples from “suspicious” suitcases using a mixture of water and methanol to detect the presence of hexogen. The examination confirmed the presence of explosives. From this the conclusion was drawn about a terrorist attack. The belongings of the dead passengers on which these substances were found were recognized as material evidence. It won't be so easy for relatives to get these things now.
Those who were sitting in the center were almost all burned alive. The pilots and flight attendants were identified only by their uniforms; their bodies were also not in the best condition. From all this we can draw conclusions: the number of “whole” bodies is minimal. More than half of the bodies are in a fragmented state. There are about 800 fragments in total.
Only after the completion of the DNA examination will it become clear whether everyone has been found. We really hope that everyone will be found. This is very important to people.
Relatives of the victims have already memorized the places where their loved ones sat.
The youngest, Darina Gromova, and her parents occupied row 9, seats D, E, F. On the diagram, their squares are empty, say relatives of the victims. - Darina’s grandmother did not identify her granddaughter’s body and agreed to a DNA examination. So the child has not been officially identified.
They didn’t find all the Sheins - there were many children there too. One-year-old Alisa Mozgina is not among those identified. Nothing is known about the little boy Miron, who was flying with his parents and grandmother...
Relatives of the victims who spoke with investigators asked different questions. One of them is whether the passengers were wearing seat belts at the time of the plane crash?
Investigators made it clear to us that not all passengers were wearing seat belts. Someone was torn off along with the chair, this was also explained to us,” the interlocutors add.