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Jet crash at Moscow airport

Vnukovo air traffic controller charged over Falcon crash case — Markin

Alexander Kruglov has been charged with violation of safety regulations and rules of aircraft operation that caused the death of two or more people by inadvertence, says Investigation Committee

Alexander Kruglov Ilya Pitalev/TASS

Alexander Kruglov

© Ilya Pitalev/TASS

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Investigative Committee warns against hasty conclusions over Falcon crash

MOSCOW, October 30 /TASS/. Prosecutors have brought formal charges against Vnukovo airport’s air traffic controller Alexander Kruglov over his role in the Falcon crash case, Russian Investigation Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin told Tass on Thursday.

A private Falcon plane bound for Paris took off from Moscow’s Vnukovo-3 airport just minutes before midnight on October 20. It was already in the air when it collided with a snowplow. The plane went on fire and crashed on the runway. The French Total oil company’s chief executive Christophe de Margerie and the jet’s crew of three died in the crash.

“Today, air traffic controller Alexander Kruglov has been charged with violation of safety regulations and rules of aircraft operation that caused the death of two or more people by inadvertence (article 263, part 3 of the Russian Penal Code). Kruglov has been questioned as the accused. At the moment, he is in custody,” Markin said.

The Russian Investigation Committee has detained five suspects in connection with the Falcon crash case. They include Vnukovo airfield’s leading engineer Vladimir Ledenev; airport’s flight operations director Roman Dunayev; air traffic controller Alexander Kruglov; trainee traffic controller Svetlana Krivsun and snowplow’s driver Vladimir Martynenko.

Ledenev was responsible for the cleaning works while Dunayev, Krivsun and Kruglov were in charge of air traffic on the crash day.

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Russian Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin Falcon jet crash

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