Sinai Peninsula on the map where the plane crashed. Notifications

The largest number of victims in the history of our civil aviation the disaster happened this morning. 224 people - passengers and crew of the flight Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg - crashed in Egypt, on the Sinai Peninsula. People flew from rest as 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 TV channel. The first - for the whole day. Before that, there was not a single photo, not a single video recording, even the shortest one. Towards evening, the first military helicopters, carrying the remains of the disaster victims from Sinai, landed at the Cabrit airbase of the Egyptian Air Force, a little over a hundred kilometers from Cairo. Ambulances - a long line of cars with flashing lights - transport them from the airbase to the Cairo morgue. Before dark, the bodies of almost all the victims were brought 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 only 23 minutes. Much longer - several hours after he disappeared from the radar - conflicting information about the fate of the liner came. It was not immediately possible to compose a more or less clear picture of what happened in the sky over Sinai.

Sharm el-Sheikh airport, 5 hours 51 minutes local time (6.51 Moscow time). Airbus "Kogalymavia" is charter airline, also known under the brand name Metrojet, took off and headed for St. Petersburg. There were almost no empty seats. An experienced crew commander - 12 thousand flight hours, a third of them - just on the "Airbus-321". Almost immediately after takeoff, he discovered some kind of malfunction on board, contacted the ground, reported malfunctions, and asked for permission to land at the nearest airfield. At this point, the session ended, and the "Airbus" did not get in touch anymore. By 7 hours 14 minutes Moscow time, the liner lost radars.

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

Of the 217 passengers, 27 are children. Families were returning from vacation in Sharm.

Judging by the data of the Internet resource "Flytradar", the last thing the earth recorded - a minute before disappearing from the screens, the plane dropped about two kilometers in height. 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 that the transponder transmitted, and these numbers are beyond critical. Big liner at such a low speed it simply will not stay in the air. Moreover, according to the witnesses who watched the fall of the "Airbus", his engine seemed to be on fire.

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

Closer to noon, it became clear - air space The plane did not leave Egypt. The prime minister of this country canceled all travel, called an emergency meeting and announced that the plane did crash. A state of emergency was introduced in Sinai. And finally, in the afternoon, it was officially announced: the wreckage had been found.

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

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

An Egyptian security officer described a horrifying picture to Reuters: “I am witnessing a tragic scene. There are many bodies of the dead on the ground, many of them wearing seat belts in their seats. The plane is split in two. - the large front part - crashed into the rock. We have already removed 100 bodies, the rest are still under the rubble. We heard dozens of phones ringing that belonged to the victims, our officers packed them into a sack. "

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 serviced. This particular plane has served for several years in the airlines of the countries of the Middle East region: in Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria. Russian Kogalymavia acquired it in 2012.

Experts are examining the causes of the tragedy, and only photographs are left of the people. Pictures of those who flew out of Egypt, returned from vacation on flight 9268 and before takeoff managed to leave publications in social networks with the following, for example, the inscription: "Hello, Peter, goodbye, Egypt. We are flying home."

Exactly a year ago, on October 31, 2015, there was the most massive air crash in Russia in terms of the number of victims. Then in the north of the Sinai Peninsula plane A321 Russian airline Kogalymavia. Onboard there were 217 passengers, including 24 children, and seven crew members. They all died. Russian authorities acknowledged the incident as a terrorist attack, but the international investigation has not yet been completed.

On October 31, the А321 aircraft of the Russian airline "Kogalymavia" performed a charter flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. The liner took off at 5:50 am and disappeared from radar 23 minutes later. On the same day, search teams of the Egyptian government discovered the wreckage of a destroyed plane near the city of Nehel in the north of the Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board were killed, including 219 Russians, four citizens of Ukraine and one native of Belarus.

Causes of the crash of A321

International investigation led by aviation authorities Egypt is not over yet. It is attended by representatives from Russia, France, Germany, Ireland and the United States.

The first that a terrorist attack could have occurred on board the A321, soon after the plane crash, began to report the Western media, citing their sources in the special services and officials. From these publications it followed that the US and British authorities considered the version of the terrorist attack the most likely. However, in Moscow for a long time publicly distanced herself from her, calling the version of the terrorist attack premature and urging to wait for the official results of the investigation. And only on November 6, it was decided to suspend flights with Egypt until the reasons for the crash of the A321 were clarified and the Russians staying there were evacuated.

Officially, the terrorist attack of the FSB that took place over Sinai only two and a half weeks after the disaster, on November 17. According to the ministry, an improvised explosive device went off during the flight. Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Security Council to find the organizers of the crash "anywhere in the world" and destroy them.

However, the Egyptian authorities, even after these statements, continued to insist that the most likely cause of the disaster was a technical problem. And only in February 2016, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi admitted that a terrorist attack had taken place on board the A321.

In September, the Kommersant newspaper, citing sources, reported that an international technical commission had identified the exact location of the explosion in the plane. According to the newspaper, experts have determined that the terrorists mined the compartment oversized baggage in the rear of the plane, hiding an explosive device between baby carriages and wicker furniture that the tourists were carrying.

Russia and the CIA believe that the explosion on board was organized by Vilayat Sinai (until 2014 - Ansar Beit al-Maqdis), a cell of the terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) banned in Russia. The group claimed responsibility for the A321 crash: On November 18, 2015, the Islamic State's propaganda magazine Dabik published a photograph of an improvised explosive device made from a can of Schweppes soda. As stated in the article, it was this device that was powered aboard the A321. In August 2016, the Egyptian military about the assassination of the leader of the "Vilayat Sinai" Abu Dua'a al-Ansari, suspected of organizing a terrorist attack.

Scandalous case

Relatives of those killed in the crash have repeatedly complained about the progress of the investigation and the process of payment of compensation. In December, lawyer Igor Trunov, on behalf of 35 relatives, filed a complaint against the inaction of the head of the Basmanny Court in the Basmanny Court. The Investigative Committee Alexandra Bastrykina. According to the lawyer, she expressed herself in the fact that the UK ignored two appeals from relatives. In one of them, they asked for the number of the criminal case, recognize them as victims and familiarize themselves with the materials of the investigation. Another complaint concerned Ingosstrakh. The appeal claimed that the company was fraudulently receiving statements from the relatives of the deceased, limiting their right to go to court in order to obtain compensation. Ingosstrakh itself categorically rejected these accusations. And the lawsuit against Bastrykin was rejected.

Consequences

After the crash of the Kogalymavia plane, Russia suspended flights with Egypt, and tour operators were prohibited from working in this direction. All year long they have been waiting for the resumption of communication with the country, which for many years has been one of the main resort destinations for Russians. According to the latest data, this may not happen until December or January.

To resume flights, the Egyptian side must fulfill a number of airport security requirements (their full list has not been officially made public). During the year, Russia repeatedly sent its specialists to Egypt for checks at the airports of Cairo, Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, but each time there were violations. According to sources of the newspaper "Al-Watan", quoted by TASS, "a number of Russian structures refuse to discuss the issue of resuming flights with Egypt until the results of an official investigation appear."

With the closure of flights, Egypt suffered significant losses. From the collapse of tourism - one of the key industries for the country (more than 11% of GDP until November 2015) - the budget of Egypt, according to Reuters, has lost more than three billion dollars.

The crash of the Russian airbus and the subsequent termination of flights to the Arab Republic led to problems for Kogalymavia itself and the associated tour operator Brisco, who ordered flight 9268. Since spring 2015, the case on declaring the carrier bankrupt has been dragging on, the next meeting will be held on November 10. In March, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) limited the Kogalymavia operator's certificate and revoked its admissions to 13 international destinations.

The organizer of the flight, the tour operator Brisco, suspended work on August 2 until it pays off debts to clients and agencies. As reported on the Brisco website, after the closure of flights to Egypt and Turkey, the company suffered "colossal financial and economic losses."

On October 31, 2015, as a result of a terrorist attack in Egypt, the Russian airliner A321 crashed.

Exactly one year ago, on October 31, 2015, over the Sinai Peninsula. The catastrophe, which became the largest in the history of Soviet and Russian aviation, claimed the lives of 224 people.

Most of them are residents of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region. A year after the tragedy, not all the relatives of the victims were able to bury their loved ones. Until now, Petersburgers are waiting for the official and final results of the investigation of the disaster from the Egyptian side. And they literally learn to live anew.

On October 30, Airbus 321-231 of the Kogalymavia airline successfully completed two flights on the route Sharm el-Sheikh - Samara - Sharm el-Sheikh.

The handing over crew of the PIC Dmitry Zhigalkovich and the co-pilot Yuri Yushkone do not express any comments on the liner.

Already in the early morning of October 31, the plane will have two more ordinary flights: Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg - Sharm el-Sheikh. The board is already receiving the next crew: the experienced 48-year-old Valery Nemov, who has flown over 12,000 hours, and the 45-year-old co-pilot Sergei Trukhachev, a former military pilot who completed the Chechen campaign.

217 passengers will be waiting for them on board, most of them are from St. Petersburg, many are returning home with their families from a long-awaited holiday in Egypt.

At 03:50:06 local time (06:50 Moscow time), flight 7K-9268 departs from Sharm el-Sheikh, after which, following the air corridor along the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, it begins to climb.

In St. Petersburg, the plane, bypassing the Sinai Peninsula, will have to arrive at 12:10 local time, on the usual Saturday October noon, along with dozens of other domestic and international flights listed on the Pulkovo board. But neither then, nor after several delays, highlighted on the scoreboard, the long-awaited flight 9268 never returned to its homeland.

A few days after the disaster in the skies over Egypt, Flightradar will release data on the last flight of the A321 over Sinai. According to a summary posted on the website, the plane took off safely and began to climb, moving parallel to the coast.

Minutes after the liner swerved inland, its height begins to plummet 6,000 feet. Communication with the aircraft is lost.

The first reports in the media that the plane Airbus airlines"Kogalymavia" disappeared from the radar, it begins to appear only at 10:18 Moscow time.

In short news items, the data differ significantly: according to the information they contain, there were from 207 to 224 people on board.

Some reports say the plane went missing in the Larnaca region of Cyprus.

"Flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg, operated by Airbus 321 Kogalymavia, took off at 6:21 Moscow time and disappeared from the radar screens 23 minutes later, there were 217 passengers and seven crew members on board," Federal Air Transport Agency.

The account goes on for a moment - two minutes later, there is news from the Arab media, reporting that a Russian plane crashed in the central part of the Sinai Peninsula.

But the data is still scarce and not backed up by official confirmation. Hope persists. At 10:42 am, Reuters and Sky News publish the first reports denying the plane crash. Sources of publications claim that the crew of the missing plane got in touch in Turkey. Flightradar also does not confirm the fall, specifying that the liner sharply lowered the altitude before disappearing from the radar.

The Federal Air Transport Agency reports that they are trying to contact the flight that disappeared from the radar. At 11:44 on the Pulkovo online scoreboard, there is still information that the arrival of the aircraft from Sharm el-Sheikh is delayed (from 12:10 to 12:20).

In Pulkovo, where by that time information about the arrival disappears from the scoreboard, the headquarters for emergency situations begins operational work, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation is preparing two aircraft for dispatch to Egypt. Later, the department decides to send five special aircraft to Egypt.

Search parties found the site of the disaster among the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula. The wreckage of the liner was scattered over 13 kilometers.

The search operation took place in difficult conditions: North Sinai is a closed zone; for a year now, the Egyptian army has been conducting a large-scale operation there against militants of an extremist group associated with ISIS. It was the Egyptian military who patrolled the area who were the first to find the wreckage of the liner.

The plane crashed in the En-Nahal massif, a desolate, waterless and deserted place. According to the updated and officially confirmed information, there were 224 people on board the aircraft, including seven crew members.

According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, there were 192 adults and 25 children among the passengers of the liner. They all died.

"Dear Amalia, 28 years ago you gave the world a wonderful boy. Every mother dreams of such a son and a girl dreams of such a reliable and loving man next to her. A year ago, photos of all the victims were published, I immediately remembered Armen's face, it attracts the eye with its kind and pure smile, this is the face of a purposeful and very decent young man. I did not know him, but I am terribly sorry for Armen. Such boys were obliged to live and give the world beautiful children. But, unfortunately, another world, black and evil, took his life. I wish you strength and health. Thank you for such a son. It is a pity ... Blessed memory of Armen and happy birthday. (Tatiana Svetlova, St. Petersburg) " Sinai.

On October 26, a few days before the plane crash, Armen Vishnev, a native of the city of Pushkin, who served in the Federal Customs Service, turned 27 years old. Armen flew to Egypt to rest, in one of the last messages he asked his mother not to be bored, because the separation would be short-lived, he promised to bring a magnet or, as a joke, even a whole camel.

A year after the tragedy, Amalia carefully keeps all the photographs and messages of her son. Caring people from other regions of Russia and dozens of other relatives of the victims of the plane crash help her to honor her memory and relive the grief of loss. The tragedy brought together more than 36 thousand people on the Internet. Thanks to the efforts of Petersburgers, the Flight 9268 charity foundation was created, which now provides support to people who have lost loved ones in the disaster over Sinai.

"The main goal for which we have united is to perpetuate the memory of our relatives in the deeds that we are able to accomplish: creating a memorial and a temple, preserving the memories of our loved ones, helping the families of the victims who need financial, legal and psychological support. Our foundation is not just an attempt to rally around a common cause, it is a protest against terrorism, murder, cruelty and injustice. Big way starts with a small step. And we are all doing this step together - this is the goal set by the people, whose lives were divided by the tragedy into before and after the disaster, "the Foundation says.

The fund's group in social networks has long become a kind of spontaneous memory book, where you can find out the latest information about the investigation of the tragedy, see again the photos of all those who did not return home from the ill-fated flight, and also provide all possible help to family and friends.

And it's not just about money: any support is valuable, because even after a year practice shows: time does not heal, and the long investigation and difficult bureaucratic procedures associated with the payment of compensation only exacerbate the already unabated pain of loss.

The tragedy cut off the lives of entire families: Olga and Yuri Shein and their three children were killed in the crash. The whole country from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok was shaken to the depths of his soul by the love story of Alexandra Chernova and Yevgeny Yavsin on board the A321: Yevgeny specially saved money in order to take Sasha to Egypt and propose to her there. And dozens of other life-long stories that ended so unjustly and suddenly on that unfortunate October morning.

Most of the passengers of the crashed A321 were residents of the North-West of Russia, mainly from St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Novgorod and Pskov regions. Also on board were four citizens of Ukraine and one citizen of Belarus. The smallest passenger, Darina Gromova, was only 10 months old, her photo, posted by her mother on social networks shortly before the disaster and subsequently published by many world publications, became an unspoken symbol of the tragedy.

A year after the plane crash, not all relatives of the victims of the A321 crash were able to bury their relatives: the six who died in the crash over Sinai have not yet been identified. According to Irina Zakharova, chairman of the board of the Flight 9268 charity foundation, the remains, which are now stored in the crematorium on Shafirovsky Prospekt, are not subject to examination. However, the families still have hope to receive the fragments of the bodies of their deceased relatives: in Egypt, after the completion of the main stage of the investigation, new remains were discovered, and they are now being studied.

The report of the international commission to investigate the catastrophe of the Russian A321 over Sinai has not yet been made public: according to a source in the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation, experts will tell about the preliminary results of their work (and this is a year after the investigation) "within 60 days."

"Certain technical analyzes are now being carried out, after which a preliminary report will be made public," a representative of the Egyptian Ministry of Aviation told the media on October 26.

Recall that representatives of six countries are taking part in the investigation of the causes of the disaster: Egypt, Russia, as well as specialists from France, Germany, Ireland and the United States. His move according to the rules The International Organization Civil Aviation (ICAO) is administered by the aviation authorities of Egypt.

One of the first versions of the disaster was the assumption that the Russian plane could have been shot down by a missile fired by militants operating in the North Sinai region. However, this assumption was almost immediately refuted by experts as untenable. For a long time, experts worked out another probable cause of the crash of the Kogalymavia airliner - a version of technical problems. This was announced on the day of the crash in the operational services of Egypt following a preliminary examination of the wreckage of the aircraft. At the initial stage of the investigation, Russian experts were inclined to the same version.

Representatives of Kogalymavia (Metrojet trademark) were the first to refute it: on November 2, the airline's press secretary, Alexander Smirnov, ruled out technical malfunction and pilot error as the causes of the crash and declared an "external influence" on the liner. He stressed that the plane, which the airline owned on a lease basis, was 100% ready to fly and that its crew was "highly experienced." The company's representative backed up his speech with certificates received by the airline in early 2015. He also stated that the plane's engine was checked on October 26, five days before the crash.

On November 7, the IAC reported that until the recording on the recorders was terminated, the flight was proceeding normally, no information about the failure of the aircraft's systems and assemblies was recorded.

At a meeting in the Kremlin on November 16, the head of the FSB, Alexander Bortnikov, officially announced for the first time that the cause of the crash was a terrorist attack. Versions of third-party interference with links to different sources were previously published in foreign and Russian media.

“We can unequivocally say that this is a terrorist act. According to our experts, an improvised explosive device with a capacity of up to 1 kg in TNT was detonated on board the aircraft in flight, as a result of which the aircraft fell apart in the air, which explains the spread of parts of the aircraft fuselage on a large distance, "Bortnikov said, adding that traces of foreign-made explosives were found on the wreckage and belongings.

Bortnikov explained that the conclusions were drawn by experts after a thorough examination of personal belongings, passengers' luggage and parts of the crashed liner.

Initially, it was assumed that an explosive device was planted under the passenger seat 30A or 31A. However, in September 2016, the commission's data were published, according to which an explosion occurred in the tail section, in the oversized baggage compartment. A timer bomb was hidden among the prams. The experts came to this conclusion after having analyzed the layout of the collected fragments of the A321 in the hangar of the Cairo airport. Due to the explosion, the aircraft lost its tail section, after which it switched to an uncontrolled dive.

The investigation into the tragedy is progressing very slowly, and all the circumstances of the incident are still unknown.

Liability for the crash Russian aircraft almost immediately took over the Egyptian cell of the Islamic State group banned in Russia. Airport employees could have brought an explosive device on board - numerous testimonies about the weak level of security in the air harbor immediately after the tragedy flooded the Internet: many tourists said that for a small bribe, bags with things were safely carried through all security cordons, and no one examined them themselves.

However, the Egyptian side for a long time insisted on the version of a technical malfunction, refusing to recognize the possibility of a terrorist attack on board the liner.

In December 2015, the technical investigation committee issued a statement saying that Cairo had found no signs of terrorist involvement in the Airbus 321 crash.

It was only in February 2016 that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi admitted for the first time that a terrorist attack was the reason for the crash of a Russian plane in the skies over Sinai. The head of state said this at the presentation of a report on the development of the country until 2030.

On August 30, 2016, it was announced that Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani, who, presumably, was the organizer of the terrorist attack, was destroyed in Aleppo, Syria.

Air traffic with Egypt, which was interrupted immediately after the crash of the A321, has not yet been restored. According to the official comment of the Russian Ministry of Transport, the situation will not change until all the remarks in the field of aviation security are eliminated.

"A decision on the resumption of air traffic between Russia and Egypt is possible only after the elimination of all remarks in the field of aviation and transport security. It is worth noting that the Egyptian side has made significant progress in resolving these issues and the interaction of the two countries is quite constructive," the ministry noted 25 October.

A year later, the memorial "Garden of Memory", which will be located on Rumbolovskaya Hill in Vsevolozhsk, will be completed and fresh flowers will bloom here. A corridor made of slabs, on which, in accordance with the design of the monument, will be the names of all those killed in the A321 plane crash, as well as metal structures in the form of pipes, on which the wind will play, will be seen by anyone who drives along the Road of Life.

On Monday, October 31, a memorial service for the victims of the A321 crash in the sky over the Sinai Peninsula will be held at St. Isaac's Cathedral. In memory of those who never returned home to relatives and friends, the cathedral bell will ring 224 times.

On the morning of October 31, at 05:50 local time (06:50 Moscow time), the plane on flight 7K-9268 of the Russian airline "Kogalymavia" took off from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. 23 minutes after takeoff, when the airliner gained an altitude of 9.4 thousand meters, an explosive device detonated in the tail section. The plane split in two, there was a depressurization of the cabin and a complete shutdown of the systems - the liner rushed down. Two minutes after the explosion, the plane crashed to the ground at great speed in the central part of the Sinai Peninsula. All 224 people on board, including 25 children, were killed. Three hours after the crash, a local branch of the Islamic State * claimed responsibility for the attack.

• Wreckage
• Reuters

« The fairy land took them for itself "

Irina Barinova lost three loved ones in the crash: her cousin Lyubov Mozgina with her one-year-old daughter Alisa and mother Galina Zamolotova were returning from vacation to St. Petersburg.

“Lyuba dreamed of how she would show Alice the country with which she herself was madly in love,” says Irina. - She and her mother were so happy that Alice would see a magical land where there is the Red Sea, the sun, the pyramids. But Wonderland took them for herself. "

According to Irina, Lyubov is not used to counting on anyone other than herself in life: she worked a lot, bought a car and an apartment in St. Petersburg.

“Lyuba herself is from the Novgorod region, she graduated from school there and in 1993 came to go to college in St. Petersburg. A simple girl from the village, she studied and worked seven days a week. She prepared for days and nights, she kept drawing something. In the morning - institute, and in the evening and on weekends - work. She tried to achieve everything herself and really wanted to help her parents. "

• Relatives of the deceased passengers
• Reuters

After graduation, Lyubov got a job in a construction company as an estimator, but most of all she wanted to work at Lenenergo. “She sent her resume there and did not hope to receive an invitation for an interview, but her dream came true! The last years of her life, Lyuba worked at Lenenergo and was in good standing with the management, ”recalls Irina.

The interlocutor of RT told how in 2013 they managed to relax in Lazarevskoye with Love: “We walked together, swam in the sea, and then Lyuba said that she would soon become a mother. It was such a joy - beyond words! From the first day Lyuba knew that there would be a girl, and from the first day she called her by her name - Alice. All the pain in the soul cannot be conveyed in words. I still can't believe it. We just have to love them and miss them. "

• Boarding pass found at the crash site Airbus aircraft A321
• RIA News

"Who would have thought that I would see them for the last time"

The tragedy over Sinai took Galina Panchenko's only daughter, 23-year-old Vlad, and her husband Ilya Sakerin. “They met in 2010, when Vlada graduated from high school, and since that time they have never parted. They organized their own wedding and were really happy. The three of us lived, and even with three cats - Vlada and Ilya were very fond of animals. They were fond of fishing, they often went to Karelia and even brought me fish. They rode bicycles from St. Petersburg to Lomonosov - and this is a rather long distance. They were so happy about life, dreamed of buying an apartment, planning children. "

• Reuters

This trip to Egypt was the third for the young Sakerin family. They went on vacation for just a week - they were in a hurry to return back to the birthday of Vlada's father. Galina then accompanied the children to the airport. “Who would have thought that I would see them for the last time,” she laments.

Galina could not stay at home after what had happened - everything reminded her of the dead children. The decision to move to the United States permanently was not an easy one.

“I was left all alone. I still can’t come to terms with it. Unbearable pain. Every day I wake up and fall asleep thinking about them. "

• Airbus A321 wreck
• RIA News

Go through the pain together

Irina Zakharova and her husband lost their only daughter in the crash. Elvira Voskresenskaya was 28 years old.

“I cannot say about my daughter what she was. For me, she is my daughter. She was a long-awaited beloved child. Father, being a career soldier, all his life dreamed of his son as a continuer of his path. When his daughter was born, at first he had some disappointment, but then, already in adulthood, he was imbued and realized that his daughter became the continuer of his whole life and all his undertakings. She chose a university associated with military service, put on shoulder straps. This year she was to receive the rank of major. For my father and I, she was the center of the universe. We lived by her interests, and she — our ", — with difficulty holding back tears, says Irina.

A year ago, the relatives and friends of those killed in the plane crash over Sinai united in a group on a social network, in which they exchanged information about the course of the investigation and supported each other. The group was organized by Alexander Voitenko. On board Airbus 321 was his older sister Irina with her daughter Alice.

“I realized that I can’t be silent about what happened, I can’t keep it to myself and suffer in myself. I decided to tell everyone about how I feel, what is happening around this disaster. It was possible to unite not only relatives, but also sympathizers. We have created a group on the social network, in which today there are more than 36 thousand people. This is already a big family, a whole movement. "

• Reuters

The group of united relatives eventually grew into the Flight 9268 charity foundation.

“After all the funerals were over, we met for the first time in January. I remember there were about 30 of us, — recalls Alexander Voitenko, who became the executive director of the Flight 9268 fund. — We immediately decided that we needed our own charitable foundation to resolve legal issues related to donations. It was necessary to structure the needs. "

Irina Zakharova became the chairman of the board of the foundation. When asked why she decided to engage in charity work, Irina, the director of a school in St. Petersburg, replies:

“It is very difficult to understand why I was doing this, because it seemed to me that I would not survive. But it turned out that I not only survived, but also took up the activities of the foundation. It means that I have not yet accomplished something in my life, since I got this. "

Irina tells how hard it is to come to terms with the loss of loved ones: “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, whether I will be alive. Over the past year, six people have died - relatives of the victims - mainly due to a heart attack. "

• RIA News

Flight 9268 cooperates with other organizations, for example, the Interrupted Flight Foundation, which was organized 10 years ago in memory of those killed in the August 22, 2006 Anapa - St. Petersburg plane crash.

“We are planning to carry out a fraternal burial of unidentifiable remains. Now they are in the city crematorium, - says Irina. - The examination confirmed that among these remains there is a particle of every passenger on the plane, but they are so mixed that it is almost impossible to separate. We collect signatures of relatives about consent to burial. It will be very difficult to survive the second funeral. "

• Figures of cranes at the action in memory of the victims of the plane crash over Sinai in the Peter and Paul Fortress
• RIA News

Irina and Alexander said that the foundation plans to build a temple in St. Petersburg, inside which an atrium with photographs of victims of the plane crash will be located.

Christina Oleneva, Yulia Gureeva, Maria Bukharova

• Anniversary of the tragedy over Sinai: relatives of the deceased passengers remember their loved ones

* "Islamic State" is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

On the morning of October 31, it crashed over the north of the Sinai Peninsula russian airliner Airbus-321 of the airline "Kogalymavia", on board of which there were seven crew members and 217 passengers, including 17 children. In the first minutes, information about the plane crash was extremely contradictory. There were even reports that the plane was intact.

Apparently, therefore, at the St. Petersburg Pulkovo airport, to a call from the SP correspondent about the time of arrival of flight 7K 9268 from Sharm El Sheikh, a polite female voice affably answered: “According to preliminary information, this flight is somewhat delayed”. Then short beeps were heard in the telephone receiver. The clock was 11:27.

By this time it had already become clear that the plane, alas, had crashed.

Information about the tragedy with the liner instantly scattered across the Internet. Ten minutes later, the alleged crash area of ​​Airbus-321 became known - central District Sinai.

We dialed the Pulkovo inquiry number again. "Do not specify, is the plane from Sharm El Sheikh much late?" The voice in the receiver, as it seemed, is already less friendly, rather tense, this time announced briefly: "Information is being specified." And - again beeps, beeps ...

Soon the information about the arrival of the plane disappeared from the scoreboard ...

The plane, performing flight 9268 from Sharm El Sheikh to St. Petersburg, took off from the Egyptian airfield at 06.21 Moscow time and after 23 minutes disappeared from the radar screens. To search for the Russian ship, Egyptian military aircraft were raised on alert.

At about 11:00 Moscow time, the Egyptian authorities confirmed the wreck of the Russian liner. The crash site was cordoned off, Egyptian Prime Minister Sheriff Ismail convened a crisis committee.

According to media reports citing their sources, after takeoff, the pilot informed the dispatcher on the ground about technical problems, and 18 minutes after the start of the flight, the plane requested an emergency landing in Cairo. At the Sharm El Sheikh airport, it was reported that the crew of the liner had complained several times over the past week about engine problems. According to media reports, the aircraft was 18 years old in service. Aircraft of the A320 family have two CFMI CFM56-5B, Pratt & Whitney PW6000A or IAE V2500-A5 engines.

As it became known from reports from the Egyptian authorities, the crashed plane was completely destroyed. It is assumed that everyone on board died. At the same time, the Egyptian security service said there were no signs that the plane was shot down.

A headquarters has been set up at Pulkovo airport to help the relatives of the ship's passengers. Two Il-76 planes and one Be-200 of the Russian Emergencies Ministry are ready to fly to Egypt with rescuers on board. Official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova reported that the staff of the Russian Embassy in Egypt are finding out the details of the tragedy.

The likely reason for the collapse of the Russian passenger aircraft there was a technical malfunction in the Sinai Peninsula, said Ayman al-Mukadam, chairing a committee formed in Egypt to monitor the aftermath of the disaster.

According to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, the expert noted that he believed that there were “technical problems”.

Read all the news about the Russian plane crash in Egypt