Drunk driver blamed for CEO’s plane crash

Oil boss Christophe de Margerie and three crew members were killed when their private jet hit a snowplough as it lifted off at Moscow's Vnukovo airport October 20 and burst into flames. File photo: Benoit Tessier

Oil boss Christophe de Margerie and three crew members were killed when their private jet hit a snowplough as it lifted off at Moscow's Vnukovo airport October 20 and burst into flames. File photo: Benoit Tessier

Published Oct 21, 2014

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Moscow - The driver of a snowplough involved in a deadly accident at a Moscow airport that killed Total CEO Christophe de Margerie was drunk, Russian investigators said on Tuesday.

“It has been established that the driver of the snowplough was in a drunk state,” the investigating unit said in a statement, adding that a preliminary theory was that “an error by the pilots and the actions of the snowplough driver” were to blame for the deadly accident.

De Margerie, was killed when a business jet collided with a snow plough during takeoff at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport, the company and airport officials said.

The collision occurred late on Monday, just minutes before midnight Moscow time, the airport said in a statement. The Dassault Falcon business jet carrying de Margerie had been due to travel to Paris.

 

The plane's three crew also died.

AFP and Reuters

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