Plane crash in Sharm El Sheikh. Terrorist attack on board Kogalymavia: the main thing

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 a Russian airline 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 the deputy head of Pskov and a 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 a 10-month-old.

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

The Russian President, 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 published three cartoons on the topic of the disaster, which caused a negative reaction from the Russian Federation and. 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 Beirut-Cairo route and during landing at the airport in the Egyptian capital, the pilots raised his nose too high, causing the tail to drop 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 Kogalymavia, 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 Civil Aviation Safety Investigation and Analysis Bureau of France, the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, the Irish Air 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 the first of November, the previously found “black boxes” from the lost liner were deciphered. In the meantime, he 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, performance of work or provision of services that do not meet security requirements").

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, it 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 Kogalymavia employees in the incident over Sinai is not confirmed by facts, in the spring of 2016 it banned domestic and international flights of this airline.

According to the most frequently voiced version, the Sinai division of the terrorist “” (both organizations are banned in Russia) was 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 Beit al-Maqdis (a cell of the Islamic State banned in Russia) could be behind the terrorist attack. The United States also announced its 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 IS targets 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 a famous sculptor has already promised to make for free.

On October 31, 2015, a Russian 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 were citizens of the Russian Federation, four 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.

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, 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.

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.

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 disaster 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 tourist flow. 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

Exactly four years ago, an Airbus A320 plane crashed over the Sinai Peninsula, carrying Russian tourists from Egypt to their homeland. All passengers and crew members died before reaching home. Among the dead were 25 children, including a small resident of Gatchina Darina Gromova, which the Russians called the Main Passenger. Authorities in several countries are still investigating the causes of the plane crash. In terms of the number of victims, the disaster is the largest in Russian aviation. But nothing can bring back innocent people. the site remembers the victims of the disaster and the chronology of events over the Sinai Peninsula

Developments

The plane of the Russian airline Kogalymavia arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on the eve of the tragedy. On October 30, he performed two passenger flights on the route Sharm el-Sheikh - Samara - Sharm el-Sheikh. The commander of the aircraft, Dmitry Zhigalkovich, and co-pilot Yuri Yushko later said that the flight took place as usual, and no problems arose in the air. On October 31, the airliner came under the control of 48-year-old commander Valery Nemov and 45-year-old co-pilot Sergei Trukhachev. Nemov had more than 12 thousand hours of flight practice under his belt, almost 4 thousand of which were at the controls of an Airbus A321. The plane passed technical control at Sharm el-Sheikh airport and took off safely.

Photo: flight path of flight 7K-9268 / flightradar24.com

Charter flight 7K-9268 route Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg was supposed to arrive in the Northern capital at 12:10, a little more than five hours into the flight. At 06:50 Moscow time, the plane took off from the Egyptian airport and headed along the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. After 12 minutes, the aircraft turned left on a course of 340° to cross the Sinai Peninsula. When the board rose to a height of 9411 meters, its speed began to drop sharply. According to the website Flightradar24, at 06:13 the Airbus A320 began to lose altitude at a speed of 30 m/s. At approximately 07:14, flight 7K-9268 crashed in the central part of the Sinai Peninsula. The wreckage of the plane was scattered over a radius of 13 km. The total search area for the bodies of the dead and the remains of the airliner was 30 km. All 224 passengers died.

The first reports about the disappearance of the airliner from radars appeared in the Russian media at about 10:20 Moscow time. Initially it was reported that communication was interrupted near the Cypriot city of Larnaca. International publications Reuters and Sky News, citing their own sources, reported that the flight crashed. At this time, relatives of passengers begin to be notified about the loss of the airliner. People, hoping for a miracle, go to Pulkovo to meet a delayed flight. Charter 7K-9268 was still listed on the information board, which reported a ten minute delay.

“I was just at the airport that day and found people waiting for the plane. I was flying to study then, and I had problems getting my luggage. I arrived, but that flight did not. I remember the number of this plane on the board with the red inscription “detained”. I had just left the airport when literally 15 minutes later the crash was announced. A few hours later, photographs from the airport began to appear online. I look, and there are all these people, many of whom I saw at the entrance, or at Starbucks, or somewhere else. People who came to wait for their relatives"

Soon the hopes of the relatives were dashed: Egyptian authorities reported that the wreckage of the plane was found 50 km from Nehel, in the province of North Sinai. The airport management, together with the Federal Air Transport Agency, set up mobile medical headquarters. People were provided with psychological assistance. The emergency headquarters began work. Rescuers constantly informed relatives. But the latter were already beginning to understand that their relatives could no longer be returned.

Photo: wreckage of flight 7K-9268 / life.ru

Investigation

When information about the crash was confirmed, the Ministry of Emergency Situations sent five special aircraft to Egypt to deliver the bodies of the victims to their homeland. The black boxes, which were practically undamaged, were found on the day of the tragedy. The decryption was carried out by the Egyptian side. Representatives from six countries took part in the investigation: Russia, Egypt, the USA, Germany, France and Ireland. The commission also included consultants from Airbus.

The wreckage found 13 km from the crash site gave rise to claims that the plane was destroyed in the air. In this regard, versions began to appear about a possible explosion of the plane. Moreover, the possibility of both a bomb explosion in the cabin and a missile strike from the ground could not be ruled out. However, Egypt called any versions premature and unsupported by facts. On November 16, the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, said that the plane exploded as a result of a terrorist attack. On the bodies of the passengers, security forces found remains of explosives not produced in Russia. The Egyptian authorities assured that they would take the FSB study into account, but did not draw any conclusions. One of the groups controlled by ISIS (an organization banned in Russia) took responsibility for the terrorist attack. An examination of the wreckage of the airliner showed that the bomb exploded within rows 30-31. Presumably it was laid at site 31A. However, in September 2016, experts said that the bomb was hidden in the tail of the plane among baby strollers.

Photo: wreckage of flight 7K9268 / vebus.ru

Until now, the authorities of the African country have not opened a case under the article “Terrorism”. In July 2017, a source close to Russian-Egyptian negotiations on aviation security told RIA-Novosti that Egypt does not want to investigate the case under the article “Terrorism” in order not to pay compensation to the relatives of the victims. In this case, it will become clear that the disaster occurred due to shortcomings of the local security services.

Victims

224 people died from the explosion, burns and falling from a great height. On board were mainly Russian citizens - 219 people. Also, four citizens of Ukraine and one citizen of Belarus were flying back from vacation. The oldest victim was 77 years old, the youngest was only 10 months old. 48 people who did not return home were from the Leningrad region. On November 1, 2015, mourning was declared in Russia, which lasted three days. In the Leningrad region, all entertainment events have been canceled until November 4.

Among the dead were children, grandchildren, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. Many of the passengers posted photos online before the flight. Some flew to Egypt with their family, some to celebrate their wedding anniversary, and some to propose to their girlfriend. There were also those who went on vacation abroad for the first time. But no one was destined to return to their home.

The most famous publication is a photograph of the daughter of the Gromov couple. Little Darina flew with her parents to warm Egypt for the first time. The girl’s mother, Tatyana Gromova, captioned the photo “Main Passenger.” Under this name, the recording spread throughout the world and became a symbol of the tragedy. Darina was the smallest passenger on the plane. Her body was found 35 km from the crash site.

Spouses Olga and Yuri Shein flew to Egypt to celebrate ten years of marriage. They took three children with them: 11-year-old Zhenya, 10-year-old Lena and 3-year-old Nastya. A few minutes before landing, Olga posted a photo of her husband and her youngest daughter on her VKontakte page. The caption to the photo reads: "We're flying home." Sheina will never see her home.

Photo: personal archive of Olga Sheina

Armen Vishnev flew to Egypt to celebrate his birthday. A few days before the tragedy, on October 26, he turned 27 years old. He worked in the Federal Customs Service near St. Petersburg, in Pushkin. Armen’s mother told reporters that in one of his last messages he urged her not to get bored. Armen promised to bring a souvenir with him.

Volkhov resident Dmitry Bogdanov took his children, 10-year-old Anton, 22-year-old Nastya and 24-year-old Lera, to the sea for a vacation. The mother of a large family died of cancer several years earlier. The children wrote on their pages on the social network “Goodbye, Russia!”, “Goodbye, cold Russia” and “Rainy St. Petersburg, good-bye.” They will never see their homeland again.

The young couple Alexandra Chernovaya and Evgeny Yavsin went on their first joint trip abroad. A surprise awaited Alexandra on vacation: Evgeniy specifically saved money for trips to propose to his beloved at sea.

Photo: personal archive of Alexandra Chernova

Evgenia Murashova from Pskov died in the disaster. She flew to Egypt with her mother Irina Pikaleva. Evgenia has an 8-year-old daughter at home. A few days before her tragic death, she posted an audio recording on her page entitled “I know I won’t come back.”

Photo: screenshot from Ekaterina Murashova’s page

Along with all these innocent people, hundreds of others died. Hundreds, if not thousands, of relatives were left with broken hearts. Many of them still have not been able to identify their loved ones, which means they keep a grain of hope in their hearts. The unidentified remains of victims of the Sinai disaster were buried in a mass grave at one of the memorial cemeteries in St. Petersburg.

Memory

On Rumbolova Mountain in Vsevolozhsk on the second anniversary of the “Garden of Memory” tragedy. The project was financed from the regional budget and the budget of Vsevolozhsk. The names of all the dead passengers of flight 7K-9268 are immortalized on a granite slab. Also on this day, all the bells of the churches of St. Petersburg will strike 224 times, in honor of each person who died.

Photo: “Memory Garden”

On October 28, the monument “Folded Wings” was unveiled in St. Petersburg. The memorial was erected at the burial site of unidentified Airbus passengers. 25 white balloons were launched into the sky, symbolizing the children who died in the disaster.

Photo: “Folded Wings” / Administration of St. Petersburg

Every year, events in memory of the victims of the Sinai disaster are held throughout the country.

After the tragedy, activists created the Flight 9268 charitable foundation. The fund is supported by the administration of the Leningrad region, the administration of St. Petersburg, the Russian Union of Rescuers and the Kuznetsov Guild. In February 2016, with the assistance of the foundation, more than 80% of the families of relatives of the victims wrote in support of the idea of ​​​​building a temple and monument in memory of the dead passengers and crew of flight 9268. The Church of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica will be built in the Baltic Pearl multifunctional complex.

Photo: Draft design of the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica in the Baltic Pearl multifunctional complex / flight9268.ru

The A321 plane crash over Sinai, which occurred on October 31, 2015, became the worst disaster in Egypt and the largest tragedy in aircraft crashes. The Airbus A321-231 aircraft, owned by the Kogalymavia company, was used by the tour operator Briscoe and carried tourists on flight 9268 Sharm al-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. The crash killed 224 people.

Flight details

Airplane

Airbus A321-231 was produced in 1997. The vessel was then handed over to the owner, the leasing corporation ILFC, which leased it to MEA (Lebanon). The airliner was assigned the number F-0HMP, its capacity was 149 people. In Lebanon it was used for 6 years and was returned to ILFC in 2003.

Fact. During its use at MEA, one failure occurred - when landing in Egypt, the pilots raised the nose of the aircraft too high, and the tail touched the runway. After this, the aircraft was repaired.

In 2003, the aircraft was again leased to Onur Air Corporation (Turkey). The ship's board was modernized, its capacity increased to 220 people. In 2007, the airliner was subleasing to Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudi Arabia), and in 2010 to Cham Wings (Syria). In 2012, the airliner was leased to Kogalymavia LLC.

According to the leasing company, the aircraft was maintained at a level that complied with the standards, and technical control and inspections were carried out on time. On October 26, 2015, a weekly technical inspection was carried out, and on March 18, 2014, the aircraft underwent factory control. Over all the years of use, the airliner has exhausted 46-48% of its nominal life of scheduled flights.

Crew and passengers

The ship was staffed by a Russian crew, including:

• 2 experienced pilots,
• 5 flight attendants.

Among the passengers who were on board the plane at the time of the disaster were 192 people. adults and 25 children. The oldest of them was 77 years old, the youngest girl was 10 months old. All people died in the crash. Photos of the dead were posted on several official websites.

List of passengers killed over Sinai

Most of the victims of the disaster lived in the northwestern regions of the Russian Federation; there were also 4 citizens of Ukraine and 2 from Belarus on the plane.

The list of those killed in the plane crash included:

• A. Kopylov – deputy head of the Pskov city administration,
• D. Gromova (10 months), whose photo became a symbol of the plane crash.

Chronology of events

Preceding circumstances

On October 30, 2015, Airbus A321-231 made 2 normal flights on the planned routes: Sharm al-Sheikh-Samara-Sharm al-Sheikh. The final disembarkation of passengers at the airport was completed at 15:30, and representatives of the crew who carried it out had no complaints about the condition of the equipment. The vessel underwent scheduled maintenance, and on the morning of October 31, 2015, a new crew took over (V. Nemov and S. Trukhachev), and preparations began for subsequent voyages - Sharm al-Sheikh-St. Petersburg-Sharm al-Sheikh.

The Kogalymavia company was a member of the international united holding company specializing in tourism - TH&C, which also included the Brisco company, which ordered a flight from Egypt to the Northern capital.

Catastrophe

At 5:50 local time in Egypt (6:50 Moscow time), the plane took off from Sharm al-Sheikh airport, headed north along the shore of the bay and gradually rose to 6.4 km. After 12 minutes of flight, the plane turned left to bypass the Sinai Peninsula and reach the Mediterranean, the pilots intended to gain an altitude of 9.75 km.

In the 23rd minute of the flight, the airliner picked up a speed of 755 km/h and climbed 9.4 km when the situation left the normal mode. The ship began to fall at a speed of 1.8 km/min. At 04:13 GES, the flight recorder recording was interrupted due to extraneous noise. After 24 minutes of flight, the plane crashed in Sinai and was instantly destroyed.

Search services found the remains of the disaster among the mountain ranges of the peninsula 50 km from the city of Nekhel. The wreckage of the plane and fragments of the bodies of the dead were scattered over a radius of 13 km, over a total area of ​​30 km.

Reaction

President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin expressed words of condolences to the loved ones and relatives of the victims of the tragedy. To the Head of Government D.A. Medvedev was charged with creating a commission to investigate the causes of the plane crash. V. Putin called for finding and eliminating the terrorists responsible for the tragedy.

Condolences were expressed to the relatives of the victims, as well as to all Russians:

• presidents and prime ministers of more than 50 countries,
• Pope,
• general secretaries,
• heads of religious communities of the Russian Federation.

“Hotlines” were opened for relatives of the deceased passengers: by telephone one could find out all the information about the injured loved ones.

The scandalous French magazine Charlie Hebdo published three cartoons on its pages illustrating the plane crash, which caused sharp negative criticism from the Russian leadership and the public. The illustrations were called "blasphemous", "cruel" and "mocking towards the victims of the tragedy."

Fact. Representatives of the French Foreign Ministry responded that all journalists have the right to freely express personal opinions, but they do not always coincide with the position of the country's official leaders.

On November 20, 2015, the UN Security Council issued a statement condemning the terrorist attacks, including the disaster over Sinai.

Mourning

November 1, 2015 became a day of mourning for Russians. Three days of mourning took place in the Northern capital, and four days in the Leningrad region.

Investigation into the causes of the Sinai tragedy

The investigation into the plane crash was carried out jointly by several countries, including Egypt and the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of Airbus and IASA.

On November 1, 2015, the investigation began: analysis of the information contained in the on-board recording devices, which practically survived, and examination of the remains of the victims. In Russia, a case was initiated under articles 263 and 238 of the Criminal Code of Russia.

The fact that the remains of the airliner were found in a large area of ​​about 30 km allowed us to conclude that the tragedy occurred at a high altitude.

On November 7, 2015, the official leadership of Egypt spoke about the results of the decoding, from which it followed that extraneous loud sounds were heard at the end of the recording. At the end of the flight, an altitude of 9.415 km and a speed of about 520 km/h were recorded; the ship was moving under the guidance of an automatic pilot, who needed to gain altitude.

At that time, several versions of the causes of the plane crash were voiced:

• wear and tear of aircraft equipment;
• fuel tank ignition;
• damage to the aircraft's lithium battery.

On November 16, 2015, information was received that the plane crashed due to a terrorist act - an IED located at the rear of the airbus with a total capacity of 1 kg of TNT went off. This conclusion was made after residues of explosive substances not made in Russia were found on fragments of the plane, personal belongings and bodies of the victims.

Fact. On November 17, 2015, a public announcement was posted that a cash reward of $50 million would be paid for assistance in capturing the terrorists responsible for the plane crash.

Analysis of the remains of the aircraft showed that the IED went off in the rear of the ship, in rows 30-32.

On December 14, 2015, a special commission organized by the Egyptian leadership announced the completion of the investigation into the plane crash and the readiness of the report on it. It indicated that in the process of analyzing the causes of the tragedy, nothing was found indicating a terrorist attack. This is explained by the fact that in the opposite case, the indirect cause of the disaster would have been a flaw in the Egyptian airport security service.

At the beginning of 2016, the current head of Egypt admitted that the airliner crashed as a result of a terrorist attack.

Cause of the disaster

On November 3, 2015, it became known from sources in the US defense department that an American satellite noticed a bright flash corresponding to the location and time of the Airbus A321 accident. No evidence of being hit by the missile was recorded, as a temperature trace would have been observed. Ignition in the air indicated that the tragedy could not have occurred during landing.

A few days after the plane crash, one of the terrorist groups within ISIS announced its involvement in the incident. However, the official leadership of Egypt cited equipment malfunction as the alleged cause of the tragedy.

A number of media representatives, Russian and Egyptian heads of transport departments rejected the explosion hypothesis, calling it propaganda.

On November 5, 2015, the intelligence services of the United States and Great Britain supported the unofficial version of a terrorist attack based on information intercepted from ISIS militants about a bomb being planted on an airplane.

According to the assumptions of foreign intelligence services, expressed by various media, the IED was installed by terrorists subordinate to ISIS in the luggage compartment just before departure.

11/16/2015 at the Council of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin's version of the explosion of a homemade device was confirmed by the head of the Russian FSB A. Bortnikov.

On September 13, 2016, a special commission determined exactly where the bomb was located: in the oversized baggage section at the tail of the plane. To install the IED, the militants used the help of an employee of the Sharm al-Sheikh airport: just before the flight, a package with an explosive was planted, after which it was covered with strollers and suitcases.

Consequences of the disaster

After the tragedy, many aviation companies, including Kogalymavia, stopped flying over Sinai until the exact causes of the crash were clarified.

From 4 to 6 November 2015, the Governments of Great Britain, Ireland, Russia, Germany and other European countries suspended regular air services over the Sinai Peninsula.

11/16/2015 V.V. Putin announced that Russia will continue to look for the causes of the disaster; it is necessary to join forces and punish those responsible for the tragedy.

Fact. After the disaster in Egypt, an order was issued to intensify air strikes against the terrorist organization ISIS.

Conclusion

The plane crash over the Sinai Peninsula became the largest in the history of Russian passenger aviation. On October 23, 2017, a monument to those who died over the Sinai was erected in St. Petersburg. On October 31, 2017, a memorial to the victims was laid in Vsevolozhsk.

The horrific crash of A321 over the Sinai Peninsula, which occurred in the fall of 2015, still excites the world community. A terrible tragedy befell an air transport carrying 224 passengers belonging to an airline called Kogalymavia.

The cause of the plane crash, which took the lives of everyone on board, according to one version, was labeled as a terrorist attack. Let's try to remember how the investigation took place, as well as what facts the experts were able to confirm.

An air transport belonging to the Kogalymavia airline, flying to St. Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh, suffered a terrible crash, having been in the air for only 20 minutes. The Kogalymavia disaster occurred near the Sinai Peninsula. Most of the passengers were citizens of the Russian Federation.

Deviations from normal movement became noticeable even at an altitude of 9411 meters. At that time, the airliner maintained a speed of 755 km/h. The plane crashed to the ground at 6:14 local time from a height of 8512 meters at a speed of 115 km/h. As a result of the impact, the plane was completely destroyed.

The remains of the airliner and the bodies of the people on board were discovered in the center of the peninsula between El Qantala and El Laxima. The crash occurred 50 km from the city of Nekhel.

The debris was scattered over an area of ​​about 30 km.

Also on board the air transport were three citizens of Ukraine and one Belarusian. As previously noted, no one managed to survive the terrible tragedy, so the plane crash over the Sinai was noted as the largest that took place in Russian and Soviet aviation.

As soon as it became known about the tragedy, the Russian Investigative Committee immediately opened 2 criminal cases into the tragedy. Representatives of the Investigative Committee, conducting the initial investigation, noted 2 versions that could have caused the crash of the airbus:

• technical malfunction of the aircraft;
• incorrect actions taken by the crew.

Cause of the tragedy

Responsibility for the tragic incident was almost immediately claimed by militants belonging to the terrorist organization of the Islamic State. However, this reason was considered by both representatives of Rosaviatsia and the Russian Ministry of Transport as unreliable.

The President of Russia made a comment regarding the crash 55 hours later, offering sincere condolences to the loved ones of the victims and noting that the investigation into the crash will continue in full. The involvement of a terrorist organization was noted in a statement by Alexander Bortnikov, who served as head of the FSB.

Bortnikov noted that it is quite possible that the cause of the crash was the explosion of a bomb that was unnoticed by terrorists on board. Soon, one of the representatives of the Russian Ministry came up with a new version regarding the organization of the terrorist attack. The report noted that the militants could have detonated a bomb on board due to revenge on the Russian side, which was actively involved in the fight against terrorist organizations.

About a month after the crash, in one of the circulation publications, representatives of the Islamic State published photographs of the bomb that was used to blow up the airbus. The militants independently created a demolition mechanism from a tin can, equipping it with a metal cylinder and a remote control.

Egyptian military units were able to detain one of the IS leaders in the summer of 2016. Around the same time, another militant leader in Syria was eliminated. And the leader of the terrorist group Al-Adnani, according to representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense, was eliminated during an airstrike.

It is worth noting that the Pentagon completely denies the involvement of the Russian side in the liquidation of the terrorist commander.

Investigative findings

The plane crash over Sinai alarmed the entire world community, so representatives from many countries took part in the investigation into the causes of the crash:

• Russian Federation;
• Egypt;
• France;
• Ireland;
• Germany.

According to the rules of investigation approved by the International Civil Aviation Association, the Egyptian side should have been the leader in this matter. The version about the involvement of terrorists in the crash was recognized by the current President of Egypt only at the beginning of 2016. The full report on the investigation was published by representatives of the Ministry 2 months after the speech of the President of Egypt.

The report noted that during the investigation it was even possible to mark the location of the explosive device. To clarify this issue, the expert commission had to analyze all the collected fragments of the destroyed airbus. The analysis of the fragments was carried out in a special reserve hangar on the territory of the Cairo aviation complex.

At the end of the study, experts were able to confirm that the bomb was planted by militants in the tail of the airbus, more precisely, in the compartment used for transporting oversized cargo. As soon as the terrorists activated the explosive device, a powerful explosion tore off the tail of the plane, which caused an uncontrolled dive.

According to data published by a Reuters source, several people were detained who were suspected of involvement in the tragedy. In particular, we are talking about 2 police officers, a mechanic and a luggage compartment loader. The agency also added that the brother of the mechanic suspected of the terrorist attack arrived in Syria approximately 12 months before the tragedy to join the terrorist group.

Interesting information about the ill-fated flight

The Airbus A321-231 that crashed had the number 663. It left the factory in 1997, and during the same period it took its first flight. First, the airliner received a temporary number DAVZK.

After successful testing, the aircraft was purchased by the International Leasing Finance Corporation (ILFC). MEA Airlines leased it. The airliner had 149 passenger seats, of which 31 were in business class and 118 in economy class. The aircraft was in operation for 6 years before being transferred back to ILFC.

Interestingly, during this time the airliner became direct participant one of the incidents that also occurred in Egypt. On November 16, 2001, a dangerous landing was made in the city of Cairo. Due to the fault of the pilots, the plane raised its nose so high that the tail section hit the runway hard.
There were no casualties as a result of the incident. None of the flight passengers (81 people) and 7 crew members required medical assistance. Soon after forced repairs, the ship returned to service for passenger flights.

Further history of the crashed plane

In 2003, the same airliner, number TC-OAE, was leased to the carrier Onur Air (Turkey). Moreover, not only the onboard combination was subject to changes, but also the interior. In service with Onur Air, the aircraft began to accommodate 220 economy class seats; It was decided to remove the business salon.

Until 2012, the aircraft operated flights directly from Onur Air, the Saudi company Saudi Arabian Airlines and the Syrian carrier Cham Wings Airlines (the latter used the aircraft under a sublease agreement with Onur Air). In the spring of 2012, the ship returned to ILFC for the last time.

The ship was transferred to the carrier Kogalymavia on March 30. The aircraft number was changed to EI-ETJ. The Russian carrier, like ILFC's previous partners, also entered into a leasing agreement. Exactly a month later, the aircraft was completely purchased by the Dutch company AerCap and re-delivered to Kogalymavia, which at that time was already called Metrojet.

Despite such a long history of operation by various carriers, the aircraft was maintained in fully operational condition. The airliner was equipped with two powerful V2533-A5 engines developed by International Aero Engines. The last operating company, Metrojet (Kogalymavia), provided evidence that the frequency and quality of all technical checks were strictly observed.

According to the documentation, the last technical inspection before the disaster occurred on October 26, 2015. Scheduled maintenance was performed as scheduled and dates back to March 18, 2014. The vessel's safety level corresponded to a coefficient of 0.67 (maximum 2).

Over the entire 18.5 years of active operation, the aircraft completed 21,590 takeoff and landing cycles. The total flight time was 57,413 hours and 11 minutes. Which corresponds to 48% of the total resource.

Who was on the plane

There were a total of 224 people on board A. Among the dead were a total of 218 citizens of Russia, 4 of Ukraine and 2 of Belarus.

The plane was flown by two pilots:

• Aircraft commander V.Yu. Nemov (48 years old). Number of hours in flight: more than 12,000.
• Co-pilot S.S. Trukhachev (45 years old). Flight experience: 5,641 hours.

Five flight attendants worked with passengers on the flight. Rosaviatsia provided data according to which there were 192 adults and 25 children on board. The oldest passenger was 77 years old, and the youngest was only 10 months old at the time of the tragedy.

How did the countries' authorities react to the tragedy?

The heads of a large number of countries publicly expressed their condolences:

• Germany;
• Egypt;
• Bulgaria;
• Latvia;
• Lithuania;
• the Netherlands;
• Ukraine, etc.

Even Pope Francis was among the officials. There were simply no people in the world who were indifferent to this tragedy and the victims, despite the ambiguous political and economic relations.

However, one incident did take place. Although France officially expressed condolences and support, the infamous Charlie Hebdo magazine immediately published 3 cartoons based on the plane crash. The Russian government and public were outraged. Official Paris spoke out in support of the journalists, saying that the magazine has the right to “express without restrictions its own opinion on everything,” even if it contradicts the government’s position.

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