Russia steps up investigation over Total CEO's death
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E-mail Xinhua, October 22, 2014
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This handout image from TV-tape, released from Russian Investigation Committee, shows the remains of France's Falcone airplane at the Vnukovo airport in Moscow on October 21, 2014. The CEO of French oil giant Total, Christophe de Margerie, died in a plane crash at a Moscow airport overnight when the private jet he was using struck a snowplough on takeoff. [Xinhua photo] |
Russian investigators have detained at least one person over the deadly air crash that killed the CEO of French oil giant Total, Christophe de Margerie, and are mulling more detentions and arrests.
"Slovenliness of one person coupled with irresponsibility of others not only caused the tragedy but also undermined the image of the entire country," Investigative Committee (IC) spokesman Vladimir Markin told reporters.
Four French citizens aboard the plane, including de Margerie, were killed in the overnight mishap, which saw their Falcon-50 business jet collide with a snowplow as it was taking off from Moscow's Vnukovo airport.
The IC has detained the snowplow operator and tagged him as the primary suspect, but noted that the man would not be made a scapegoat.
"It is evident that the negligent behavior of the perpetrator was overlooked by the upper management, whose actions or inaction will undergo a proper legal scrutiny. And we do not rule out more detentions in this case," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Markin as saying.
He added that the IC plans to suspend from duty some airport officials who might hinder the investigation.
French prosecutors have also opened a probe into the death of de Margerie, according to a local news channel.
The Interstate Aviation Committee, the air accidents investigation body in Russia and other former Soviet republics, said it would not open the Falcon's black boxes before the arrival of French experts.
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