SOCHI, May 3 (Itar-Tass) – Thirty-nine bodies of passengers of the fateful A-320 airliner have been found in the sea, Krasnodar Territorial Procurator Sergei Yeryomin reports.
Information on the citizenship of the passengers is varied. For instance, the Federal Aeronavigation Service reports that they, quite possibly, include citizens of Ukraine and Georgia. Alexander Neradko, who heads the Aeronavigation Service, said “the list of crash victims includes one Ukrainian woman and one Georgian, while the rest are citizens of Russia and Armenia”.
However, the Chief Civil Aviation Board under the Armenian Government claims that there were only Russians and Armenians on board.
There is no exact information on the reasons of the tragedy. The Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations asserts that “bad weather conditions are the main version of the A-320 crash”. Major-General Vladimir Popov, who formerly headed the abolished Federal Board for Aerospace Search and Rescue Operations of the Russian Defence Ministry, shared this view in his statement to Itar-Tass. “Initially, the liner was unable to land due to heavy rain, while during the second try something, quite possibly, went wrong when the plane was descending along the glideslope path”, he added. “Being at a rather low altitude, the aircraft suddenly tilted and splashed into the sea,” the general said.
Dwelling on the reasons of the accident, officials of the Krasnodar Territorial Procurator’s Office reported that it was “difficult so far to speak of any concrete versions, because none of them could be ruled out – neither the technical deficiency version, nor the human factor, nor other reasons, including an explosion”.
In turn, Head of the Chief Civil Aviation Board under the Armenian Government Artyom Movsesyan explained that “the plane tookoff from Yerevan two minutes later than indicated in the timetable”. While flying crossing the air space over Georgia, the dispatcher reported poor weather conditions in the landing area and the plane’s commander decided to fly back to Yerevan. After the plane had already turned back, it got a report from an Adler airport dispatcher that the weather was improving and the plane could land there. Therefore, the airliner headed for Sochi again. According to Movsesyan, horizontal visibility was three thousand metres at that time, and vertical visibility – 100 metres. Due to these conditions, the crew decided to fly one more round before landing the plane and reported this decision to the Sochi air dispatcher. Right after that, communication with the plane broke off and it disappeared from the radar screen.
A technical commission was formed to investigate the accident. Moreover, a commission of the Inter-State Aviation Committee, headed by its Chairman Tatyana Anodina, flew to Adler. Armenian Defence Minister and Chairman of the Russo-Armenian Inter-Governmental Commission Serge Sarkisyan is also going from Armenia to the disaster area. A team of rescuers have left Armenia for Sochi, too. They will take part in the search operations on the disaster spot. A team of specialists from the Airbus Company will also take part in the inquest.
Deputy Procurator-General of the Russian Federation Nikolai Shepel and Krasnodar Territorial Procurator Sergei Yeryomin had earlier flown to the spot of the accident. Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin is expected to shortly come to Sochi.
According to the information released by Southern Regional Centre of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations, “the weather is getting worse in the search area, the fog is growing denser, and it is raining. According to the latest forecasts, the wind velocity can be expected to increase up to twenty metres a second. In these conditions, it was decided to conduct the search operations only by means of bigger ships. They include the diesel ships “Dagomys” and “Topaz”, two floating cranes, the rescue ship “Akhill”, and several other craft. More than five hundred men are taking part in the search operations in the area where the catastrophe occurred, Russian Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations Yevgeny Serebrennikov reports.
There were 113 passengers on board the liner, including twenty-six citizens of Russia. According to the preliminary reports, they have all perished. The victims of the tragedy include former Interior Minister and KGB Chairman of Armenia Major-General Usik Arutyunyan. According to the latest information, twenty-nine bodies were found so far, including that of a little girl. The list of Russians, who were on board the plane, was published on the site of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations.
Criminal proceedings were instituted in connection with the catastrophe in accordance with the Article of the Russian Criminal Code on breaches of the air transport traffic and exploitation safety rules by a person, whose duty was to observe those rules, thereby causing the death of two or more persons due to carelessness.
In connection with the catastrophe, the Krasnodar Territorial Administration has formed a special commission. A “hotline” was opened for the relatives of the airliner passengers. All the necessary information can be obtained by dialling 8-622-444-00-88 or 8-622-44-12-32.
May 5 will be declared a day of mourning in Russia and Armenia.
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