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Causes of Russian carrier rocket crash will be known by late May — Russian deputy PM

Those responsible for the crash, if any, will be punished

MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. The investigation into the causes of last week’s Proton-M carrier rocket crash will be completed in late May and those guilty will be punished, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin told reporters on Thursday.

"After the investigation, if it is established that the accident occurred due to the fault of certain people or because of violating technological processes or due to bungling, those guilty will be punished," Rogozin said.

Earlier this week, Rogozin said Proton’s crash occurred due to an old-time innate flaw of the rocket’s engines.

A Proton-M rocket carrying a Mexican satellite Mexsat-1 blasted off from the Baikonur space site in Kazakhstan early on May 16. Sixty seconds before the expected separation of the third stage from the satellite and the booster a yet-to-be established emergency occurred. The satellite and the booster burned up in the atmosphere over Russia’s Trans-Baikal territory.