The plane crashed in Sharm El. The crash of the Kogalymavia A321 aircraft was the largest in the history of Russian aviation. Interesting information about the ill-fated flight

The biggest disaster in the history of our civil aviation occurred this morning. 224 people - passengers and crew of the flight Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg - crashed in Egypt, on the Sinai Peninsula. People were flying back from vacation with their families. 27 children among the dead. The Egyptian Prime Minister said that 129 bodies have been found so far. Experts are working on a "black box".

This is the first evidence of a plane crash in Sinai - photographs published by an Egyptian television channel. The first - for the whole day. Before this, there was not a single photograph, not a single video recording, even the shortest one. Towards evening, the first military helicopters carrying the remains of disaster victims from Sinai landed at the Egyptian Air Force Kabrit air base, a little over a hundred kilometers from Cairo. Ambulances - a long line of cars with lights flashing - transport them from the airbase to the Cairo morgue. Before nightfall, the bodies of almost all the dead were delivered to the Egyptian capital. From there they will be sent to Russia, to St. Petersburg.

“Since this tragic incident, our countries have been working in close contact. The President and the government of Egypt expressed condolences in this regard and offered to do everything possible to, firstly, conduct a joint investigation, and secondly, help in transporting the bodies of our citizens to their homeland ", said the Russian Ambassador to Egypt Sergei Kirpichenko.

Airbus Flight 9268 flew for only 23 minutes. Much longer - several hours after it disappeared from radar - conflicting information about the fate of the liner came. It was not immediately possible to create a more or less clear picture of what happened in the skies over Sinai.

Sharm el-Sheikh airport, 5 hours 51 minutes local time (6.51 Moscow time). The Kogalymavia airbus, a charter airline also known under the Metrojet brand, has taken off and is heading for St. Petersburg. There were almost no empty seats left. An experienced crew commander - 12 thousand flight hours, a third of which were on an Airbus 321. Almost immediately after takeoff, he discovered some problems on board, contacted the ground, reported the malfunctions, and asked for permission to land at the nearest airfield. At this point the session ended, and the Airbus did not make contact again. By 7:14 am Moscow time, the plane was lost by radar.

"At 7.14 I was supposed to establish a communication session with Larnaca, the Republic of Cyprus. Radio communication did not take place with the plane, it was lost. The aircraft's mark also disappeared from the radio radars of air traffic control services. There were 217 passengers and 7 crew members on board the plane, mostly citizens Russia," said Sergei Izvolsky, press secretary of the Federal Air Transport Agency.

Of the 217 passengers, 27 were children. Families were returning from a holiday in Sharm.

Judging by data from the Internet resource Flytradar, the last thing the earth recorded was that the plane dropped about two kilometers in altitude a minute before disappearing from the screens. The speed also dropped sharply: from almost 750 kilometers per hour, first to 350, and then to 170 kilometers per hour! This is the last thing the transponder transmitted, and these numbers are beyond critical. A large airliner at such a low speed simply cannot stay in the air. Moreover, according to witnesses who observed the crash of the Airbus, its engine seemed to be on fire.

The plane had already crashed - it fell in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, 35 kilometers from the city of El-Arish, and the press and news agencies continued to pour out contradictory messages. Someone immediately declared the plane crashed. Then information came that he allegedly got in touch again. Then all the confusing references to Egyptian dispatchers appeared, who allegedly claimed that they had handed over the Airbus to their Turkish colleagues. But this information was not confirmed either.

Closer to noon, it became clear that the plane did not leave Egyptian airspace. The prime minister of this country canceled all trips, called an emergency meeting and announced that the plane had crashed after all. A state of emergency has been declared in Sinai. And finally, in the afternoon, it was officially announced: the wreckage had been found.

“We have sent a working group of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to the scene of the crash. It will conduct an investigation, this is a standard procedure. Of course, we are in constant contact with the Russian ambassador,” said Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

Those who were the first to see the crash site with their own eyes conveyed news that finally buried hope: the liner was completely destroyed, there was no chance of finding survivors. After another half hour, rescuers began to remove the bodies of the dead from the rubble. Search efforts were complicated by the difficult mountainous terrain and the fact that the fallen airliner was literally scattered around the area.

An Egyptian security officer described a terrible scene to Reuters: "I am witnessing a tragic scene. There are many dead bodies lying on the ground, many of them fastened with seat belts in their seats. The plane is split into two parts. The first - a small tail part - is burned, the second - the large front part crashed into the rock. We have already recovered 100 bodies, the rest are still under the rubble. We heard dozens of phones ringing that belonged to the dead, our officers collected them in a bag."

The crashed Airbus 321 was in operation for about 19 years - this is quite acceptable in civil aviation; another question is how the aircraft was maintained. This particular aircraft served for several years in airlines in the countries of the Middle East region: Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria. The Russian Kogalymavia acquired it in 2012.

Experts are looking into the causes of the tragedy, but photographs of the people remain. Photos of those who flew from Egypt, returned from vacation on flight 9268 and, before takeoff, managed to leave publications on social networks with the following caption, for example: “Hello, Peter, goodbye, Egypt. We are flying home.”

On October 31, 2015, a Russian aircraft Airbus A321 of Kogalymavia Airlines (Metrojet), operating flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg, .

On instructions from the President, the Russian government in connection with the disaster, headed by Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) was under the leadership of the executive director of the committee, Viktor Sorochenko.

Cairo immediately after the disaster about the opportunity to take part in the investigation of the tragedy. A special commission of investigation was created, including: Russia, Egypt, France (the state of the aircraft’s developer), Germany (the state of the airliner’s manufacturer) and Ireland (the state of registration). Ayman al-Muqaddam was appointed head of the commission to investigate the disaster.

On November 1, 2015, Egyptian Prosecutor General Nabil Ahmed Sadek invited Russian specialists to participate in the investigation into the causes of the crash of a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula.

A group of investigators and criminologists from the central office of the Investigative Committee of Russia, in agreement with the competent authorities and together with representatives of the Republic of Egypt, in accordance with the norms of national and international law, participated in the inspection of the scene of the plane crash in Egypt.

On November 17, 2015, the head of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bortnikov, during a meeting in the Kremlin on the results of the investigation into the causes of the crash of a Russian plane, that as a result of an examination of personal belongings, luggage and parts of the plane that crashed in Egypt, traces of foreign-made explosives were identified. He .

In turn, the Egyptian authorities urged not to rush to conclusions. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that as part of a criminal investigation.

In March 2016, the International Commission of Inquiry into the crash of the Russian A321 aircraft announced that it had received an official report from the Investigative Committee of Russia and transferred it to the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office to complete legal procedures. The commission itself, despite the transfer of the case to the investigative authorities of the country's state security, continued the technical examination of the wreckage of the airliner.

In mid-April, Egypt's Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek announced the transfer of the case of the Russian plane crash to the country's High State Security Prosecutor's Office. The decision of the head of the supervisory agency, as noted in the text of the statement, was made on the basis of data from the report of the Investigative Committee of Russia, “which indicates a suspicion of the presence of a criminal trail.”

In June, CIA Director John Brennan, speaking in the Senate of the US Congress, said that American intelligence has information about the involvement of the Egyptian group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which swore allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist movement banned in many countries, in the explosion on the Russian passenger plane A321. (an organization banned in the Russian Federation), and on August 4, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense announced the elimination of the leader of this terrorist group.

At the insistence of the Investigative Committee of Russia, an international commission to investigate the aviation accident. As a result of the work carried out, the fact of the influence of high-energy elements on the skin of the aircraft in the “inside-out” direction and “explosive decompression” in flight was established.

In October 2016, an investigation commission formed by the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office sent twelve pieces of the aircraft to a scientific alloys laboratory for a detailed study.

Work to determine the causes of the crash. To date, the parties have no understanding of what happened to the plane, how the explosive device got on board the plane, or who carried it. There are also no identified suspects or their accomplices from among the airport employees.

Exactly two years have passed since the death of 224 people over Sinai. The vast majority of those killed were Russian citizens. The FSB of the Russian Federation, and after it the Egyptian authorities, recognized the tragic incident as a terrorist attack. However, its perpetrators have not yet been found. It remains unclear who ordered this terrible crime.

Exactly two years ago, on October 31, 2015, the most massive air crash in terms of the number of deaths occurred in the entire history of Russia.

On this day, an Airbus A321-231 airliner of the Russian airline Kogalymavia took off from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and headed for St. Petersburg. The crew of the airliner was operating a charter flight and was taking Russian tourists home after a vacation.

The plane climbed calmly along the Gulf of Aqaba and would soon cross the Sinai Peninsula to enter European airspace. However, at the 23rd minute of the flight, communication between ground services and the aircraft was interrupted.

It soon became clear that the Airbus A321-231 crashed to the ground in the central part of the Sinai Peninsula and was completely destroyed.

The wreckage of the aircraft was scattered over 13 km. All 224 people on board the plane were killed.

At the time of the death of the airliner, there were seven crew members and 217 passengers. Of these, four were Ukrainians, one was Belarusian, and the rest were Russian citizens. Among them was Alexander Kopylov, deputy head of Pskov and deputy of the local legislative assembly.

According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, the oldest passenger was 77 years old, and the youngest victim of the tragedy was 10-month-old Darina Gromova.

Shortly before the tragic incident, her mother Tatyana published a photo of the child on a page on the VKontakte social network. The photo shows the girl standing on the windowsill of an airport window with her back to the viewer. She looks at the planes on the ground.

Tatyana Gromova captioned the photo: “The most important passenger.” This photograph was later circulated by many Russian and world media and became a symbol of the Sinai disaster.

Darina's mother and father also died as a result of the plane crash.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the leaders of many countries in Europe and the world, expressed condolences to the victims. The day after the plane crashed, mourning was declared in Russia.

However, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published three cartoons on the topic of the disaster, which caused a negative reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the State Duma. In response, the French Foreign Ministry stated that “in France, journalists freely express their opinions,” while “it does not always coincide with the official position of the French authorities.”

“There were no questions about the car”

Soon after the incident, various versions of what happened began to be put forward.

Almost immediately, the hypothesis that the plane crashed due to a pilot error was dismissed. The crashed Airbus was controlled by experienced pilots, and the crew commander, 48-year-old Valery Nemov, had flown over 12 thousand hours, of which more than 3860 were on the Airbus A321.

However, details of the aircraft’s operation soon became known, and it turned out that it was far from new. It was released in the spring of 1997 and made its first flight on May 9. After this, the aircraft was transferred to the American company International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC), which by May 27 leased it to the Lebanese airline Middle East Airlines (MEA), which had owned it for six years.

On June 2, 2003, already under tail number TC-OAE, the airliner was leased to the Turkish airline Onur Air. This structure later sub-leased the aircraft to Saudi Arabian Airlines, and from July 30 to September 29, 2010 to Syrian Cham Wings Airlines. By the spring of 2012, the TC-OAE board returned to ILFC, and by March 30, 2012, it was leased to the Russian Kogalymavia.

On April 30 of the same 2012, it was bought from ILFC by the Dutch airline AerCap, which re-delivered this airliner to the Russian Kogalymavia. The Russian airline, in turn, has already been operating under the Metrojet brand since May 1, 2012.

During the long service of the aircraft, an unpleasant incident occurred from a safety point of view. On November 16, 2001, he was flying passenger flight ME 306 on the route Beirut - Cairo and during landing at the airport in the Egyptian capital, the pilots raised his nose too high, as a result of which the tail dropped so low that it hit the ground.

None of the 88 people on board the plane (81 passengers and 7 crew members) were injured then, and the airliner itself returned to passenger routes after undergoing repairs. This information was confirmed by representatives of Kagalymavia, assuring that the aircraft passed all the necessary checks and technical tests on time.

On the eve of departure, the ill-fated flight underwent maintenance, and the receiving crew had no questions about the car.

Interrupted message

An investigation into the causes of the tragedy was launched by several large structures from around the world, since Egypt is a very popular tourist destination among citizens of many countries.

The investigation was carried out by the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee, the French Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation and Analysis, the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, the Irish Aircraft Accident Investigation Department, and the US National Transportation Safety Board.

At the same time, in accordance with international law, general management was carried out by Egyptian investigators, since the incident occurred in the airspace of this country. Already on November 1, the previously found “black boxes” from the lost airliner were deciphered.

Meanwhile, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation opened criminal cases under Articles 263 and 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Violation of traffic safety rules and operation of railway, air, sea and inland water transport and the subway” and “Production, storage, transportation or sale of goods and products, execution works or provision of services that do not meet safety requirements").

On November 16, the head of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bortnikov, said that the disaster occurred as a result of a terrorist attack - a homemade explosive device with a capacity of up to 1 kg of TNT went off.

This became clear after traces of an explosive not made in Russia were found on the wreckage of the plane and the belongings of passengers.

And the next day, Russian security forces turned to the Russian and international community for assistance in identifying the terrorists. A reward of $50 million has been offered for information leading to the arrest of the criminals.

Egyptian law enforcement officials did not recognize the tragedy as a terrorist attack for some time; they did so only in February 2016.

Be that as it may, already in November 2015, the Russian authorities decided to completely interrupt air traffic with this Arab country until the situation in the field of aviation security is normalized.

At the same time, the remaining Russian tourists at that time were taken out of Egypt upon the end of their tourist packages, but only hand luggage was allowed on board the planes, and luggage was delivered separately, on special flights of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

The UK and German airlines also interrupted flights with the Egyptian state, and France, the Netherlands and Belgium warned their citizens against flying to Sharm el-Sheikh. In addition, Turkish Airlines announced the cancellation of night flights to Sharm el-Sheikh.

Customers not identified

Meanwhile, the victims in the disaster case filed a class action lawsuit against the tour operator, Kogalymavia airline and insurance companies for a total amount of about €1.4 billion. This is the first example of a class action lawsuit for such a serious amount in Russian history.

And although the involvement of Kagalymavia employees in the incident over Sinai is not confirmed by facts, in the spring of 2016, the Federal Air Transport Agency banned domestic and international flights of this airline.

According to the most frequently voiced version, the Sinai branch of the terrorist organization ISIS * “Wilayat Sinai” (both organizations are banned in Russia) is behind the terrorist attack. Its members accepted responsibility for this crime shortly after the fact.

However, there are other points of view. A number of experts believe that the Qatari organization Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (an ISIS cell) could be behind the terrorist attack. The US CIA also announced her trace in the tragedy.

Be that as it may, after the death of the plane, Russian aviation began to intensify air strikes against targets of various Islamist organizations in Syria. For the first time, Russian strategic aviation was involved in raids on the targets of ISIS and other extremists.

However, the names of the specific perpetrators of the terrorist attack have not yet been established.

And on October 28, 2017, a monument to the victims of the disaster was unveiled at the Serafimovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.

In addition, among St. Petersburg residents there is an idea to erect a monument to 10-month-old Darina Gromova, which the famous sculptor Zurab Tsereteli has already promised to do for free.

Vladimir Vashchenko

* terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation

On October 31, 2015, a Russian aircraft Airbus A321 of Kogalymavia Airlines (Metrojet), operating flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg, on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt.

There were 224 people on board the plane, including 217 passengers (58 men, 134 women and 25 children - of which 212 people were citizens of the Russian Federation, four people were citizens of Ukraine, one citizen of Belarus) and seven crew members.

Most of the people on the plane were residents of St. Petersburg. Residents of neighboring regions also returned to Russia - the Leningrad region, Novgorod, Pskov, Karelia, and several people from other subjects of the Federation. Everyone on board died. The disaster was the largest in the history of Russian and Soviet aviation.

The Airbus-A321 aircraft of the Kogalymavia airline (Metrojet), in which the tour operator Brisco, took off from Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) to St. Petersburg on October 31 at 06.51 Moscow time and disappeared from the radar screens after 23 minutes. According to the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority, the airliner was flying at an altitude of 9.4 kilometers, then sharply decreased by 1.5 kilometers, after which it disappeared from radar.

There was no word on the fate of the plane for quite some time. The airliner disappeared from radar screens in the Cyprus region, so for half an hour they could not determine the exact location of the possible crash.

Egyptian military aviation was present to search for the Russian plane. The Israel Defense Forces sent a reconnaissance aircraft to Egypt to participate in the search operation.

The wreckage of A321 was discovered in the center of the Sinai Peninsula in the mountains between the areas of Al-Kantala and Al-Laksim near the city of Al-Hasna. To identify the aircraft, Egyptian emergency services were sent to the discovery site, where a large-scale search and rescue operation was carried out.

In agreement with Cairo, a group of forces and assets of the Russian Unified State System for the Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations (RSChS) in the amount of more than one thousand people and 250 units of equipment was involved in eliminating the consequences of the airliner crash, of which more than 660 people and 100 units were from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations technicians, as well as psychologists from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Search operations were organized on site using unmanned aerial vehicles and space monitoring data, and more than 40 square kilometers of territory were examined.

On the day of the plane crash, two A321 flight emergency recorders were found in Cairo - voice and parametric.

In connection with the crash of a Russian plane in Egypt, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared mourning in the country on November 1, 2015. The authorities of St. Petersburg until November 3, and the Leningrad region until November 4.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on the fact of the plane crash of a Russian plane in Egypt was first under the article “Violation of flight rules and preparation for them”, then another under the article “Performance of work or provision of services that do not meet safety requirements.” Later they were in the same production.

Cairo immediately after the disaster, all interested countries offered the opportunity to take part in the investigation of the tragedy. A special team was created, which included specialists from five countries: Russia, Egypt, France (the state that developed the aircraft), Germany (the state that manufactured the airliner) and Ireland (the state of registration). Ayman al-Muqaddam was appointed head of the commission to investigate the disaster.

On November 1, 2015, Egyptian Prosecutor General Nabil Ahmed Sadek investigated the causes of the crash of a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula. According to the Russian Ambassador in Cairo, Sergei Kirpichenko, Russia and Egypt have an agreement, according to which Russian specialists have access to almost everywhere they want to go as part of the investigation into the A321 crash.

The head of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bortnikov, during a meeting in the Kremlin on the results of the investigation into the causes of the crash of the Russian plane, said that as a result of an examination of personal belongings, luggage and parts of the plane that crashed in Egypt, traces of foreign-made explosives were identified. It happened like a terrorist attack.

In turn, the Egyptian authorities. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that this criminal case is considering the terrorist attack as one of the versions.

In March 2016, the International Commission of Inquiry into the crash of the Russian A321 aircraft announced that it was from the Investigative Committee of Russia and transferred it to the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office to complete legal procedures. The commission itself, despite the transfer of the case to the investigative authorities of the country's state security, will continue the technical examination of the wreckage of the airliner.

In mid-April, Egypt's Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek reported the crash of a Russian plane to the country's Supreme State Security Prosecutor's Office. The decision of the head of the supervisory agency, as noted in the text of the statement, was made on the basis of data from the report of the Investigative Committee of Russia, “which indicates a suspicion of the presence of a criminal trail.”

In June, CIA Director John Brennan, speaking in the US Senate, said that American intelligence implicated the Egyptian group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which had sworn allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist movement banned in many countries, in the explosion on the Russian A321 passenger plane. (IS), and on August 4, the Egyptian Ministry of Defense announced the elimination of the leader of this terrorist group.

On August 28, the commission investigating the crash began “laying out” fragments of the aircraft’s structure in an aircraft hangar in the city of Cairo, where they were delivered from the crash site. after its completion, the point from which the destruction of the airliner’s hull began was determined.

According to media reports, when analyzing the layout of the collected fragments of the A321 in the hangar of Cairo airport, experts said that terrorists placed an explosive device in the tail of the ship, the explosion caused the separation of the tail section and an uncontrolled dive. According to them, Russia has almost completed a report on the causes of the disaster, clearly indicating a terrorist trail: a powerful explosive device with a clock mechanism was used, which provoked a strong blast wave and fire.

The investigation into the crash of the Russian A321 over the Sinai Peninsula. On October 24, it became known that an investigation commission formed by the Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office sent twelve fragments of the airliner to a scientific alloy laboratory for a detailed study.

After the disaster, there were flights to Egypt from the Russian Federation and there was a flow of tourists. Russia stated the need to ensure security at Egyptian airports in order to resume air traffic between the countries. A number of European airlines have also suspended flights to this country. The Egyptian authorities are making great efforts to improve security measures in resort areas and airports, wanting to restore the flow of tourists. In the months since the tragedy, many foreign expert delegations have visited Egyptian airport security inspections in Cairo, Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

In October 2015, a Kogalymavia plane took off from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. A bomb planted on board exploded over the Sinai Peninsula, killing 224 people: seven crew members and 217 passengers, 25 of whom were children.

"Paper" I spoke with the families of the victims and found out how they live two years after the tragedy, why relatives of the victims are suing for compensation, and how in St. Petersburg they perpetuate the memory of the largest disaster in Russian aviation.

In 2015, Larisa and Anatoly Pulyanov were going on vacation to Abkhazia. Initially, their son Roman suggested going to Egypt. Larisa categorically refused: she did not want to fly on a plane and spend a lot on travel - at that time the room at the dacha was being redecorated for the wedding of Roman and his bride Tatyana Mokievskaya.

Roman and Tatyana, despite her mother’s protests, flew to Egypt on vacation. On October 31, they, along with 222 others on board flight A321, were killed in an explosion.

All these two years we have been thinking about the death of our son: you wake up with it and fall asleep, think about it throughout the day. We don't go crazy - we'll cry, sometimes. But I understand that this feeling is to the end and it will never let go,” says Anatoly Pulyanov.

Previously, every day for us began with a call from Roman and his question: “Parents, how are you there?”, and ended: “Parents, how was your day?” recalls Larisa. “My best friend died. Such relationships are rare between father and son, but this is exactly how we had them,” shares Anatoly.

Roman and Tatiana

One day, Anatoly wandered into an unfinished firehouse, where it was dark, with fittings and sharp pieces of metal sticking out everywhere. However, the man was not injured. “We think Roman saved it. We try so hard to think so as not to die. After all, there are already relatives of the victims who died within two years,” explains Larisa. - Things constantly happen to us that confirm that there is a small connection, and a lot of them have accumulated over two years. I know that death is not the end. I feel it."

Even though the couple misses their son dearly, they are not alone. Roman's good friends constantly communicate with them - one friend, Maria, calls almost every day. The Pulyanovs also attend meetings of members of the Flight 9268 charitable foundation, which includes the families of the deceased passengers. When spouses communicate with them, they feel understood.

How does the fund created after the tragedy work?

The prototype of the fund was a closed group for relatives, which was created by St. Petersburg resident Alexander Voitenko in the first days after the tragedy. His 37-year-old sister Irina and 14-year-old niece Alisa died in the plane crash. Alexander and his sister lived in different cities, but constantly communicated.

For the first two months the bodies were not given to us. It was necessary to bring everyone together so that we could have a single information space, it’s easier that way. And ultimately, we decided that we needed to create our own fund: once a legal entity is registered, it is easier to communicate with the city administration or the Investigative Committee and provide financial and legal assistance.

Photo: group of the charitable foundation “Flight 9268” on VKontakte

The headmistress of the St. Petersburg school, Irina Zakharova, became the chairman of the foundation’s board; Her 28-year-old daughter, an employee of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Elvira Voskresenskaya, was flying in the plane that exploded. The first meeting of relatives, where it was decided to create a fund, took place in the assembly hall of the school headed by Zakharova.

All the remains were released to relatives only in May. Seven people, according to Voitenko, remained unidentified.

Now the fund group has almost 40 thousand subscribers from Ufa, Belgorod, Voronezh, Kaliningrad and other cities. Voitenko calls them a big family, where people always help each other. Among them are ordinary Russians who believe that this tragedy has affected them personally. Alexander himself believes that the disaster over Sinai affected everyone in one way or another.

A few days ago, the relatives of the victims were presented with a collection of poems, “Stepping into Eternity,” some of which were written by group member Arina Korol. Voitenko recalls that she began offering help to relatives from the first days and still writes poetry almost every day dedicated to the dead. And another participant, Irina Solya, helps the foundation organize events: concerts and holidays for children. So, recently the fund’s members planted trees together, and after that they organized a tea party. In the disaster over Sinai, Arina and Irina did not lose loved ones, but they still perceive the tragedy as personal.

The main goal of the foundation is to preserve the memory of all those who died. On October 28, at the Serafimovskoye cemetery, a monument “Folded Wings” was unveiled over the grave with the unidentified remains of victims of the disaster; it was created with money from the authorities of St. Petersburg. On the anniversary, October 31, the Garden of Memory memorial was opened on Rumbolovskaya Mountain.

How the city supports the families of the victims and what it does to preserve memory

When everything first happened, the psychologists of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, high-level professionals, helped us a lot: they brought people out of the state of shock. Then psychologists from district social protection services picked up the baton: social psychologists were assigned to all those in need. After a year and a half, we realized that connections with specialists had weakened, and time does not heal, we still need social support,” says co-founder of the foundation, HSE professor Valery Gordin.

According to him, after the program was announced, under which the foundation was ready to pay for anonymous consultations with psychologists, several dozen people applied for them. Psychologists, according to Gordin, say that relatives of the victims experience phantom pain.

Valery’s son, 28-year-old Leonid, died in a plane crash along with his fiancee Alexandra Illarionova. Lenya loved animals very much and was, as his father recalls, a spontaneous animal activist. Once, when Gordin was about to get a cat, he persuaded him not to buy a pet, but to adopt it from a shelter. And when Leonid himself lost his cat Kysya, he looked for the pet together with volunteers.

Then the father treated Leonid’s beliefs with irony and did not follow the advice. After the death of the young man, he decided to organize the Lenkin Cat Foundation, which helps animals.

Lenkin Cat Foundation at the Night of Museums

Gordin still runs Lenka's Cat, and his attitude towards animal protection has changed. The man says he takes a pragmatic approach to the matter and details how the fund has changed. He plans to open a second center for the rental of veterinary equipment to make it easier for veterinary clinics and those wishing to help, and a school for animal volunteers who will help homeless cats.

Valery believes that after the tragedy the city authorities behaved with dignity and always responded to the requests of relatives. Now the deputies, together with Vice-Governor Albin, are helping to build a temple in the Baltic Pearl area. They plan to set up an educational center at the temple, where they will also provide social assistance.

“Not only to the relatives of the victims, but also to the residents of the area. In my opinion, this is very important and symbolic,” notes Gordin.

A year ago, local residents opposed the construction of the temple, claiming that it had nothing to do with the “Baltic Pearl,” and the issue of construction was decided without consulting them.

Gordin says that opponents “to some extent” remained:

Some people like the idea of preserving memory, others think it should be pushed further into a drawer. We met and explained our position. I really hope that the temple will be built in the near future,” Gordin explained.

St. Petersburg residents feared that the construction of the temple would delay the creation of schools and clinics. According to KP, the dissatisfied addressed Vladimir Putin in a letter.

What kind of support do relatives of the crew receive in Moscow and what is known about payments to them?

What they do in St. Petersburg to perpetuate it is all the great merit of the foundation. This is of great importance to us. If they also build a spiritual and educational center for us, this will be another place where we can come and bow to the memory of our family and friends,” says the father of 25-year-old flight attendant Alexei Filimonov, Muscovite Andrei Filimonov.

Andrey says that over the past two years he has been regularly calling and communicating with relatives of the crew. Almost all of them live in Moscow and the Moscow region, and try to meet more often and support each other. Sometimes they come to fund meetings in St. Petersburg.

25-year-old Alexey, according to his father, got on board at the last moment: he was not supposed to work on this flight: on the way to the airport, his car broke down on the Moscow Ring Road, as a result, the young man missed his flight and ended up in reserve. He was called 12 hours before departure to replace another flight attendant.

The crew’s relatives have their own separate VKontakte group, and they have been supported by subscribers all these two years. The families of the victims now know some of them personally and meet regularly. Andrey is given icons and poems about his son, and souvenirs are sent from St. Petersburg.

Andrey and Alexey Filimonov

Previously, disasters in our country were mainly due to the fault of the crew. But in this case, our loved ones found themselves in the same situation as the passengers. It was terrorism. There was no chance of salvation. The main thing is that we are not forgotten.

According to Filimonov, Kogalymavia never paid compensation to any of the relatives of the deceased crew members. About the same in the charity fund group

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