The bodies of the dead in Sochi are badly broken, as if without bones at all

The main part of the body of the aircraft has not yet been found - there may be many bodies of the dead inside

Search work continues in Sochi after the crash of the Tu-154. It's already the third day that rescuers and divers go to sea. From 7 in the morning everyone is already on their feet.

Sea port of Khosta. The base of the Ministry of Emergency Situations is still in a tight cordon. On Tuesday, it was decided to completely cordon off the entire coastal zone of Sochi. If on Monday it was still possible to walk on the sea pebbles along the edge of the sea, today the entrance to the beach is prohibited everywhere.

At the sea pier of Khosta, since last night, the candle next to the photograph of a girl in a mourning frame has not yet gone out. Victoria Satarova. She was 20 years old. She devoted her entire short life to folk dancing. The deceased served in the Alexandrov ensemble for a little more than three months. Next to her photo, someone put a figurine of a ballerina. A little further away - a scanned photograph in a transparent file of two young people - a guy and a girl in uniform ...

Rescuers are closely monitoring the weather. It was reported that a storm was approaching the sea, so the belongings of the dead, the remains could be washed ashore at any moment. Therefore, it was decided to block all entrances to the beaches, - explains the strengthening of the regime of the coast guard. - Do not let anyone into the water.

The wind at sea is getting stronger every hour. Rescue boats have increased markedly compared to previous days. A military helicopter is seen in the sky.

After even a slight disturbance at sea, five fragments of the Tu-154 were found this morning. Many people mistakenly think that the calm plays into the hands of the search engines, - says my interlocutor. - On the contrary, everyone is waiting for the storm, which will facilitate the work of the guys. The fact is that the storm will raise from the bottom and bring to the shore something that for some reason is not visible, it is impossible to get it. On Monday we waited for the storm like manna from heaven. Did not happen. We hope for today.

- And if the storm blows the remains across the sea?

Ruled out. A storm can only wash everything ashore.

Over the past day, as they said, only 12 bodies were found. Does this mean that the rest of the bodies may not get it?

Today or tomorrow is X hour, when the sea will either give up the dead or take them for itself. That is why today they increased the number of boats at sea and sent reinforcements. You see, today the whole sea is in boats.

- I heard that the divers were also sent reinforcements ...

Initially, there were thirty divers. Now their number has tripled. Guys have a hard time. The water temperature is no more than 5-6 degrees, no suits can save you from the cold. Today, special equipment was loaded onto the boats, with the help of which the guys will be able to descend to a depth of up to 300 meters. It's already hard work. This is my third day of watching them work. Just imagine, they went to sea, after an hour or two they returned, frozen, chilled to the bone. Quickly changed, dried, warmed up and back again. All those who are on land will never understand those who are in the sea.

- Now prospecting works are carried out at a shallow depth?

So far, all parts of the aircraft have been found at a depth of 60-70 meters. This is not a critical depth for the Black Sea, everything is still visible there. That's when they completely "scan" the bottom at this depth, they will go looking further. The main task is to find the main body of the aircraft, where most of the dead are probably blocked.

- The location of the main part of the aircraft was not found?

So far not discovered. Apparently, just the main part of the liner lies at a great depth, and it is not visible. Rescuers have high hopes for today's Tuesday.

- But after all, this main part of the body could not be preserved and also fall apart?

They say it's unlikely. Therefore, they think that most of the bodies can supposedly be "shackled" there.

- On Tuesday, rescuers found a black box - do you confirm this information?

See the helicopter flying? Aerial vehicles are sent for just such things.

- What is included in the work of coastal services?

Don't let a single person go to the beach. Understand us correctly, in connection with this situation, the homeless have become more active. Such people come here early in the morning to see if the sea has brought anything. When I was on duty on the first day, human remains, a mobile phone charger, a cosmetic bag, boots and a sports bag washed ashore at my feet. Some of my colleagues saw the decorations. We must not allow strangers to pick up even a trifle from a crashed side. The job of rescuers is to immediately wrap everything in black bags and send it to the base of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, from there things are already sent for examination. In the early days, most things were found. Then on the little things.

- Approximately how long will it take to search?

They gave a week to get everything that was possible from the bottom. Must fit in. Otherwise, the search will continue.

- That is, the rescuers will work on New Year's Eve as well?

If needed, of course they will. This issue has already been discussed. Moreover, by order of the head of the city, it was decided to cancel the salute in Sochi. After all, usually New Year's fireworks were arranged here right above the sea. Now such fireworks will look blasphemous.

- Information comes to you almost firsthand. What versions of what happened are put forward by the rescuers themselves?

They prefer to wait for an official investigation. As far as I heard, the investigators themselves are at an impasse. Perhaps the decoding of the flight recorder will bring important information. And what is now is nonsense. The guys who are on duty at sea at night claim that it was unrealistic to see in detail how the plane fell from the shore. Still, it's a good distance. And the nights in Sochi you know how dark. Not even stars.

- Do divers comment on something, tell about their work?

The divers hardly communicate with anyone. They come out of the sea in the evening, darker than the clouds. They consider it a bad omen to carry on empty talk.

- On the pier there were photographs of the dead. Perhaps their relatives left?

Relatives of the dead come here. They just try to ignore themselves. Someone came for one day, said goodbye to relatives in this way. Some decided to stay until the end of the search work. So they said: "It is impossible to wait at home." And there, you see, the girl is standing, - she nods to the side. She has been coming here since Monday. Almost every hour he goes up to the pier, stands for five minutes, looks at the sea and leaves.

A young girl dressed in black. On the head - a dense hood completely covers the face. Handkerchief in hand. Brings to the face. Starts. Eyes red with tears. Looks into the distance. Something whispers. As if asking the sky and the sea to return to her the one they took away.

Read previous reports from our special correspondent from Sochi:

Irina BOBROVA, Sochi

- When did you start searching for the bodies of Tu-154 passengers?

We were given the alarm somewhere around 7 am on Sunday. For another 30 minutes we waited for the coordinates of the main search area - this information came from air traffic controllers. They went out to sea on boats. Soon, helicopters of the search and rescue service of the Ministry of Defense appeared in the sky, then small ships and ships with divers began to approach.

When was the first body discovered?

I didn't watch the clock. In addition, 10 boats worked at once. We recovered the first body about three hours after the start of the helicopter pickup operation. Approximately one and a half kilometers from the coast.

- And who was it?

A woman of about 40 years old. A tightly closed red suitcase floated next to her.

- Judging by your answer about age, she was not disfigured?

She didn't have eyes...

Was her clothes intact?

She was wearing a badly torn cloak... And she was all broken... the impression that without bones... We raised two more from the water about a kilometer from the shore. Two military men, in uniform... Also torn... Young. Well, thirty, thirty-five years ... And the bodies are broken, broken ... That's it, I can't talk anymore, it's hard ... And there is a lot of work.

- Traces of burns on clothes, on the bodies, you did not notice?

The devil knows... The clothes are wet... And it's hard to judge by the skin on the face - it was burned or torn off by something hard upon impact...

The plane, it turns out, fell apart in the air. This version is also supported by the fact that the Tu-154 chassis was found near the coast.

EXPERT OPINION

"Either an explosion, or the strongest blow to the water"

The military medical examiner Captain II rank Alexander KOLESNIKOV answers the question "KP"

Photo of the wreckage of the fuselage of the fallen Tu-154 raised from the bottom of the Black Sea

As a result of a search operation in the Black Sea, a part of the fuselage of the fallen Tu-154 aircraft of the Ministry of Defense was pulled out of the water. At the crash site of the liner - near Adler, almost opposite the airport - specialists from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are working.

The middle part of the fuselage was found about 1.8 kilometers from the coast of Sochi at a depth of about 25 meters. The fragment pulled out of the water reaches about five meters in length and five in width, Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondent Vladimir Velengurin reports from the site of the search and rescue operation.

Specialists from the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Emergency Situations are working at the crash site of the liner.

The middle part of the fuselage was found about 1.8 kilometers from the coast.

As participants in the operation told KP, before falling into the water, the plane was moving along the glide path towards the water - the runway is located perpendicular to the coastline.

The recovered fragment lay at the bottom at a depth of about 25 meters.

Rescuers pulled out of the water part of the fuselage of the fallen Tu-154 aircraft of the Ministry of Defense.

The fragment pulled out of the water reaches about five meters in length and five in width.

27/12/2016

An employee of the coastal service, working at the crash site of the Tu-154, spoke about the progress of the search operation.

"FROM today-tomorrow - hour X, when the sea will either give up the dead, or take it for itself. That is why today they increased the number of boats at sea and sent reinforcements. You see, today the whole sea is in boats, ”a coast guard officer told Moskovsky Komsomolets. “Initially, there were about thirty divers. Now their number has tripled. Guys have a hard time. The water temperature is no more than 5-6 degrees, no suits can save you from the cold. Today, special equipment was loaded onto the boats, with the help of which the guys will be able to descend to a depth of up to 300 meters. It's already hard work. This is my third day of watching them work. Just imagine, they went to sea, after an hour or two they returned, frozen, chilled to the bone. Quickly changed, dried, warmed up and back again. All those who are on land will never understand those who are in the sea.

In total, according to the latest data, 12 bodies of the dead were found. And some fragments of the plane.

“Many people mistakenly think that calm is in the hands of search engines,” says my interlocutor. - On the contrary, everyone is waiting for the storm, which will facilitate the work of the guys. The fact is that the storm will raise from the bottom and bring to the shore something that for some reason is not visible, it is impossible to get it. On Monday we waited for the storm like manna from heaven. Did not happen. We hope for today, ”concludes the search engine to.

Dr. Lisa

The list of passengers published by the Ministry of Defense includes the director of the international organization Fair Aid, Elizaveta Glinka (also known as Doctor Lisa). According to an Interfax source, Glinka flew on board this plane from Moscow to Sochi, but did not go to Syria.

The fund’s message notes that Glinka did indeed take off on this flight: she accompanied a humanitarian cargo for the Tishrin hospital in Latakia. “International Public Organization “Fair Help” does not have any information in connection with the catastrophe,” the article says.

Doctor Lisa's husband, lawyer Gleb Glinka, told Snob that his wife was on board at the time of the crash. There is no other confirmation of this information.

The website of the Presidential Human Rights Council, of which Glinka was a member, published a statement by its head, Mikhail Fedotov, in which he confirmed that Dr. Liza was supposed to take medicines to a hospital in Latakia.

“Dr. Lisa was everyone's favorite. And there was a reason: for many years, she provided almost daily palliative care, fed the homeless, clothed them, gave them shelter. It was she who, under bullets, took out sick and wounded children from the Donbass so that they could get help in the best hospitals in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was she who organized a shelter for children with amputated limbs, where they undergo rehabilitation after the hospital, ”the statement said.

What did Dr. Lisa do

Elizaveta Glinka gained all-Russian fame after organizing a collection of assistance in favor of the victims during large forest fires in the European part of Russia. The Foundation provided humanitarian aid and equipment to fire victims and volunteer firefighters. In 2012, the Doctor Liza Foundation organized a collection of humanitarian aid for flood victims in Krymsk (Krasnodar Territory). Together with TV presenter Ksenia Sobchak, Elizaveta Glinka organized a charity auction, at which more than 16 million rubles were collected for flood victims.

Humanitarian assistance during military conflicts

After the outbreak of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, Glinka took part in helping people living in eastern Ukraine. She repeatedly traveled to the Donbass during the hostilities and brought children in need of treatment to Moscow from there, and also handed over medicines and humanitarian aid. In total, since March 2014, Dr. Lisa has visited the Donbass almost 20 times.

During the war in Syria, Glinka traveled to the country with humanitarian missions - she was engaged in the delivery and distribution of medicines, and the organization of medical care for the civilian population.

Disaster investigation

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Vladimir Putin was promptly reported on the incident. The President, according to Peskov, is in constant contact with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who held a video conference with the leadership of the Armed Forces on the organization of search and rescue operations. The commission of the Ministry of Defense to investigate the plane crash flew to Adler early in the morning.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was instructed by the president to form a state commission to investigate the Tu-154 crash. The commission was headed by Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov. December 26 is declared a day of mourning.

A criminal case under the article “Violation of the rules of flights or preparation for them” (Article 351 of the Criminal Code) was initiated by the Investigative Committee. As official representative of the department Svetlana Petrenko told RBC, a group of employees of the central office of the Investigative Committee, who have extensive experience in investigating aviation accidents, was sent to Sochi. According to the head of the press service of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office, Natalia Zemskova, a joint group of employees of the oversight agency and the Ministry of Defense also flew to Sochi.

Emergency services discovered an oil slick 6-8 km from the coast in the Black Sea. The wreckage of the plane was found at a depth of 50-70 m, one and a half kilometers from the coast. Passengers' personal belongings are found 12-14 km from the shore, the first body was found 6 km from the shore.

Vladimir Gritsikhin, head of the monitoring service of the central joint All-Russian Water Rescue Society, believes that under favorable conditions, the wreckage of the Tu-154 can be raised from the bottom in a week. “The depth of 50-70 m is not large, it is quite possible to gently lift large fragments with soft pontoons. The depth is such that it is unlikely that anyone can be saved, but it is possible to raise all the fragments of the aircraft. I think that in a week you can extract everything if the services work in time. The Ministry of Emergency Situations has good specialists, if they call, we will connect, ”he told TASS.

This is the fifth plane crash involving the Tu-154 over the past ten years.

On January 1, 2011, a Tu-154 B-2 aircraft flying from Surgut to Moscow caught fire on the runway. 134 passengers and crew members were evacuated, three people died, about 40 were injured. The aircraft was completely burned out.

On April 10, 2010, the Tu-154 of the President of Poland, flying from Warsaw to Smolensk, crashed while landing at the Severny military airfield in the Smolensk region. 89 passengers and eight crew members, including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, were killed.

On July 15, 2009, a Tu-154 crashed in Iran, flying from Tehran to Yerevan. On board were 153 people plus 15 crew members, among the passengers were mainly citizens of Armenia, as well as Iran and Georgia. They all died.

August 22, 2006 Tu-154M, flying from Anapa to St. Petersburg, lost control and fell into a flat tailspin. The plane crashed near the village of Sukhaya Balka, not far from Donetsk. 160 passengers died, including 49 children and ten crew members.

Versions of what happened

The official cause of the plane crash has not yet been announced. Rosgidromettsentr notes that the weather conditions in the crash area on the morning of December 25 were normal and easy for piloting the aircraft. An Interfax source in the emergency services said that one of the versions of the plane crash is considered to be a bird getting into the engine of the Tu-154 (near Sochi there is a migratory bird station and an ornithopark). In addition, according to the source, versions of the technical malfunction of the Tu-154 and the possible refueling of the aircraft with low-quality fuel are being considered. According to a RIA Novosti source, a crew error could also be the cause of the crash.

“If a bird had hit, the crew would have had the opportunity to report to the ground. After takeoff, the crew gained sufficient altitude, birds do not fly at such a height, ”said Alexander Romanov, a flight safety specialist, in a conversation with RBC, indicating that he considers a terrorist attack to be one of the most likely versions of what happened.

"Fontanki" in the Ministry of Defense notes that the FSB joined the investigation. Special service officers are checking everyone who could approach the ship at the Chkalovsky military airport and in Adler. The security forces are working out a version of the attack. This information is confirmed by the interlocutor of RBC in the FSB. According to him, this is a standard check, which is carried out in such cases. The FSB Public Relations Center was unable to officially confirm or deny the information about a possible terrorist attack.

“If there was an instant loss of communication with the crew, then this is most likely an explosion of an aircraft or a collision in the air with some object,” Yury Sytnikov, a member of the presidential commission for the development of general aviation, told RBC.

“The plane was landing for refueling, in this case, many technical services approached the plane, so people had the opportunity to put an explosive device in the compartments,” Romanov is sure.

As the honored test pilot Hero of Russia Yuri Vashchuk believes, equipment failure is unlikely. He believes that an incident on board the aircraft could have led to the disaster.

A Kommersant correspondent in the Krasnodar Territory reports that at the time of the crash, none of the local residents heard the explosion or saw a flash.

An Interfax source in law enforcement agencies excludes the version of a terrorist attack. “Apparently, when the aircraft collided with the water surface, a water hammer occurred, which led to a large spread of debris,” the agency’s source said.

“This happened after takeoff, when the landing gear and flaps were removed. There are a lot of technical things that can happen here. As a result, the plane may simply roll over due to low speed, ”Viktor Zabolotsky, Honored Test Pilot of the USSR, said in a conversation with RBC.

“For three engines to fail at once, something supernatural must happen. The failure of even one engine is a critical situation, but I do not think that it could lead to a disaster. Something happened on board, to which the pilots did not have time to react. So, for example, it was with the crash of a passenger plane over Egypt. There was a lightning-fast depressurization of the aircraft, and he lost control, ”Vashchuk told RBC.

Sergey Goncharov, president of the association of veterans of the Alfa anti-terror unit, told RBC that a version of the terrorist attack may exist, but not as a priority. “This is an aircraft of the Ministry of Defense, it is serviced at a high level by proven people. In the liner were all the people who knew each other, there were no strangers. The plane did not fly over the sea for so long, and if there had been an explosion, then one of the eyewitnesses would have heard it, ”said Goncharov.

There were no claims to the aircraft

The crashed Tu-154 was released more than 30 years ago, but "there were no complaints about its technical condition," said an Interfax source in emergency services. Before the flight, the aircraft was in good order, in general, the Tu-154 was operated "in a gentle mode."

The Ministry of Defense stated that the last repair of the liner took place in December 2014, RIA Novosti reports. The crashed aircraft was piloted by first-class pilot Roman Volkov, who had flown more than 3,000 hours.

The Tu-154, which crashed near Sochi, underwent three overhauls during its operation, TASS was told in the press service of the Russian Machines Corporation. “Aircraft Tu-154 number 85572 was produced on March 29, 1983 at the Kuibyshev aircraft plant (now the Aviakor aircraft plant). The last, third overhaul of the aircraft took place on Aviakor in December 2014. Since the completion of this overhaul, no applications have been received from the operator for scheduled periodic maintenance of the aircraft and the extension of resources to Aviakor. Accordingly, Aviakor did not carry out maintenance of this board, ”the company said in a statement.

After the plane crashed, Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said that the decision to decommission the Tu-154 "would be premature." “The resource of this aircraft today is 40 years, and if we take foreign analogues, then some aircraft have a resource of up to 60 years, so aviation has completely different principles for assigning a resource, the issue of operating time to a cycle,” Manturov said.

Since the early 2000s, the Tu-154 has been decommissioned almost everywhere.

S7 Airlines was the first to announce the withdrawal of Soviet-made aircraft - Tu-154 and Il-86 from the fleets. In November 2009, the Rossiya airline, based in St. Petersburg, stopped flying the Tu-154. The carrier replaced these aircraft with Boeing 737s, but later opted for the A320 family. Aeroflot announced its plans in 2008 and completed the process in early 2010. The main reasons for the withdrawal of the Tu-154 from the parks are the low fuel efficiency of the aircraft, as well as the high accident rate.

In January 2014, only 80 Tu-154 aircraft remained in operation in the world. As of July 2016, the only commercial operator of Tu-154s in Russia was ALROSA with two aircraft.

The last aircraft of the family with serial number 998 was released on February 19, 2013 and handed over to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

ALL PHOTOS

The Ministry of Defense clarified the number of people on board the Tu-154 that fell into the Black Sea: 84 passengers and 8 crew members flew to the Khmeimim base on this flight, a total of 92 people ( LIST passengers). The wreckage of the aircraft was found off the coast at a depth of up to 110 m. On board were musicians of the Alexandrov Ensemble and journalists. Three TV channels reported that they sent film crews to Syria on this flight: Channel One, NTV and Zvezda. Among the dead is a doctor Elizabeth Glinka who was carrying medicines to Syria.

14:03. Putin promises a thorough investigation into the causes of the disaster and assistance to the relatives of the victims. The President will meet with the leader of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, in St. Petersburg.

14:00. In Moscow, they bring flowers to the building of the Alexandrov Academic Song and Dance Ensemble, as well as to the building where the Fair Aid Foundation of Elizabeth Glinka was located.

11:33. A representative of the ensemble told Meduza that the concert in Syria was supposed to take place in Aleppo.

11:31 am. Military expert Alexander Golts told Open Russia that it is pointless to talk about the cause of the disaster until the "black boxes" are found: "But, of course, it is very alarming that the Russian authorities immediately began to deny the version of the terrorist attack."

11:23. Drones have joined the search operation, the Ministry of Defense reported. Four ships and five helicopters are participating in it, Igor Konashenkov, official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, said on the air of the Rossiya-24 channel.

11:20. The head of the HRC, Mikhail Fedotov, confirmed the death of Elizaveta Glinka: according to him, she was carrying medicines to a university hospital in Latakia. "We hoped for a miracle to the last," he told Interfax. An obituary was published on the HRC website, but it is out of order.

11:13. At Chkalovsky airports in Adler, the FSB checks those involved in the departure of the aircraft, Fontanka claims. According to the St. Petersburg edition, "they are working on a terrorist attack."

11:08. Up to seven bodies of the dead were found at the crash site, an Interfax source said.

11:05. The Investigative Committee of TASS reported that a group of experienced investigators was sent to the crash site. On behalf of the head of the department, Alexander Bastrykin, the case was transferred to the Central Office of the Investigative Committee.

11:02. An Interfax source said that the aircraft was in good working order and passed all scheduled checks. The interlocutor said that although the plane was produced 33 years ago, it was operated in a sparing mode: "On average, the flight time of the aircraft was 27 hours per month."

10:59. The Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that six ships are operating in the crash area, three more are moving forward. The wreckage was found 6 km from the coastline, the depth here is from 80 to 110 meters.

10:41. The Ministry of Defense has published a list of passengers. There are 64 employees of the Alexandrov Ensemble, 9 media workers, 8 crew members, 8 military personnel, two federal civil servants, and one employee of the Fair Aid organization - Elizaveta Glinka.

10:37. An operational headquarters has been set up in Sochi, where they promise to help the relatives of the victims, TASS reports. Moscow City Hall also intends to provide support. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote about this on his Twitter.

10:35. Elizabeth Glinka was not on board, an Interfax source said. At the same time, the agency reports that she was on the passenger lists.

10:33. NTV sound engineer Evgeny Tolstov posted on Facebook before takeoff from the Chkalovsky airport near Moscow