Terrorist strike theory gathers momentum

Published: 3/10/2000

More details have emerged on yesterday's accident at Sheremetyevo. On 9th March, at 8:43 local time, a Yak-40 registration number RA RA88170 flying a charter flight no. 9156 from Moscow to Kiev, crashed 17 seconds after lift-off from Sheremetyevo Airport. Five crew members (crew commander, co-pilot, technician and two stewardesses) and four passengers died in the crash. The flight originated at LUKoil Avia business aviation terminal at the airport. Reportedly, the Yak-40 attained an altitude of 50-100 m, and then its left wing dropped down, the airplane lost height and hit, by the left wing, a snow pile to the left of the end of the runway. The main landing gears had been retracted, but there are some doubts as to whether the nose gear had also retracted. The plane disintegrated, but did not explode on impact, although it did catch fire. Various parts of the plane were dispersed within 500 m from the crash point. When the rescue team arrived, one of the nine people aboard was still alive, but died shortly after. The aircraft was due to retire from service in summer 2001, by which time its assigned calendar lifetime would have expired. The last time it had a major overhaul was in 1992, at 407 aircraft repair factory in Minsk. The plane belonged to Vologda Unitary State Air Detachment, but for a long time had been hired by Aerotex company (and carried its colours): a Moscow-based business aircraft operator, which used it for VIP services. The crew team was from Vologda, headed by Sergei Yakushin, who had over 7000 flight hours and had worked in Iran and Africa. The Yak-40, which entered service in 1968, is seen as a very reliable and safe aircraft. The airframe is regarded as highly flyable so that, in the event of simultaneous failure of all the three ZMKB Progress AI-25T engines, at a height of 50m, the pilots could land the aircraft safely. Consequently, some sources consider that a terrorist act is the most probable cause of the crash. The flight carried Artyem Borovik, head of Top Secret media holding, specialising in not always favourable reports on the activities of armed and intelligence services. He was travelling along with entrepreneur, Ziya Bazhayev, Chairman of the Oil Alliance Group, a large oil corporation, and two of his deputies. Bazhayev, a Chechen by nationality, was rumoured to be a supporter of the rebels' cause, so fuelling the terrorist theory. As former head of oil company, Sidanco, and having built a considerable empire of holdings in oil production, refining and trading, Bazhayev also had enemies elsewhere.

Article ID: 1659