Disaster over Lake Constance: a chronicle of the tragedy. Collision over Lake Constance: how an Ossetian took revenge on a Swiss air traffic controller Aircraft collision due to the fault of the air traffic controller

As a result of the disaster, 71 people died: two pilots who were on board the cargo Boeing of the German company DHL, as well as the crew and passengers of the Bashkir Airlines flight - a total of 69 people, including 52 children. The tragedy and the subsequent story of blood feud formed the basis of several works of art.

How events developed on the night of the collision, why most of those killed that night should not have ended up in the sky and how the investigation took place - in the Izvestia article.

Random passengers

The bulk of the Tu-154 passengers were a group of children from a UNESCO specialized school for gifted children located in Bashkiria. All of them received holiday packages to Spain for their good studies.

This group was supposed to fly out the day before, but missed the flight. Bashkir Airlines, at the request of the travel company accompanying the group, urgently organized a charter flight for the group. The airline also offered tickets for this flight to other passengers waiting to fly to Spain - a total of eight tickets were purchased. Three of them were purchased by the Kaloyev family - 44-year-old Svetlana was flying to Barcelona with her children - four-year-old Diana and 10-year-old Kostya.

Waiting for them in Spain was their father, Vitaly Kaloev, the former head of the construction department in Vladikavkaz, who in 1999 went to Spain under a contract to work as an architect. The day before, he handed over another project to the customer. Svetlana and her children lived in North Ossetia; they flew to Barcelona via Moscow, where she bought a ticket for a Bashkir Airlines flight.

In addition to the first and second pilots, the crew included an airline inspector - a 1st class pilot, who during this flight had to evaluate the actions of the PIC Alexander Gross as part of the standard inspection procedure. In addition to the flight attendants, there were three more airline employees in the cabin of the plane: Shamil Rakhmatullin, aircraft technician Yuri Penzin and flight manager Artem Gusev, who accompanied the flight.

Late in the evening of July 1, the planes found themselves in the airspace over the German Lake Constance - despite the fact that this was German territory, flight control here was transferred to the private air traffic control company Skyguide, located in Switzerland.

Control room

There was one specialist on duty at the control center at that moment - 34-year-old Peter Nielsen. The second dispatcher, with Nielsen’s consent, went on a break at that moment, and two dispatch terminals were left in the care of Nielsen and the assistant who remained with him.

In addition, as the investigation subsequently established, part of the control equipment, which is supposed to inform dispatchers about dangerous proximity between aircraft, was under maintenance that night.

When it became clear that the planes were moving on intersecting courses, another dispatcher working in Karlsruhe tried to draw the attention of his colleague to the dangerous situation. He tried to contact Nielsen by phone 11 times, but one of the phone lines was also under maintenance and the backup was out of order. For the same reason, Nielsen himself could not ask Friedrichshafen Airport to take over another, third flight that was delayed. Negotiations with the commander of this aircraft a few minutes before the disaster would not allow Nielsen to hear messages from the Boeing and Tu-154 pilots.

Nielsen himself noticed the approach of two planes moving on opposite courses too late. He gave the first message to the commander of the Tu-154 with the requirement to lower the altitude less than a minute before the collision. However, at this time, the TCAS-RA collision warning system had already activated in the cockpit of the second aircraft.

In the cockpit

The TCAS system was created specifically to warn pilots about dangerous approaches in a situation where, for some reason, this was not done by the controller. In order for the system to work, it is necessary that the second aircraft also has its sensor - after which each of the airliners receives an agreed signal about the maneuver that must be performed to prevent a collision.

According to international regulations, all aircraft certified to carry 19 passengers or more must be equipped with the system. TCAS was installed on both the Tu-154 and the German Boeing. But because the controller tried to prevent the collision too late, his orders conflicted with TCAS commands.

Almost immediately after Nielsen contacted the captain of the Bashkir Airlines plane and demanded to descend, TCAS gave the command to the Russian airliner to begin climbing, and to the German airliner, on the contrary, to descend. The Boeing commander, who had not received any orders from Nielsen, carried out the computer command. The commander of the Tu-154 at that moment was already carrying out a similar order from the dispatcher and did not listen to the computer. At the same time, the crew of the German cargo plane reported their actions to the ground, but Nielsen, who was busy at that moment in negotiations with the third board, did not hear this message.

Two planes simultaneously went into a descent on opposite courses.

Photo: Global Look Press/Anvar Galeev

Torn Necklace

The Boeing and Tu-154 pilots saw each other in the last seconds - the planes collided at a right angle, while the Boeing's tail stabilizer hit the middle of the passenger plane's fuselage, causing it to fall apart in the air. Having lost its tail control, the Boeing lost control and also crashed to the ground.

The disaster occurred around 23.30 local time, but the first reports about it began to arrive after midnight. On the morning of July 2, Vitaly Kaloev, who was waiting for his family in Barcelona, ​​learned about what had happened. On the same day, he flew to Switzerland, and from there went to the German city of Uberlingen, near which the disaster occurred.

Having informed the police in the cordon that his wife and children were in the crashed plane, Kaloev joined the search efforts at the crash site. He later told the National Geographic TV channel that he himself found his daughter, four-year-old Diana, first seeing her torn beads on the ground, and then discovering the child’s body. It was this image that formed the basis of the memorial installed at the site of the tragedy and called “The Broken Necklace.”

The book “Collision”, also from the words of Vitaly Kaloyev, describes another version of the development of events - during the search operation he was brought to the place where the body was found for identification, where he saw the decoration lying to the side.

The investigation into the circumstances of the crash was carried out by the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation. In May 2004, the bureau's conclusion was published. It said that the Skyguide air traffic control company, which failed to ensure air traffic safety, and its controller were to blame for the collision. In addition, the document noted that the Tu-154 pilots performed a maneuver contrary to the requirements of the TCAS system, and the integration of the system itself was incomplete, and the instructions for it were not standardized.

Bashkir Airlines also sued the Federal Republic of Germany, in whose airspace the collision occurred. In 2006, the district court in the Lake Constance city of Konstanz ruled that transferring aircraft control to a private company located in another country was contrary to German law. All responsibility for the disaster, according to the court decision, fell on the Federal Republic of Germany. This decision was challenged by Germany, and subsequently the dispute between Germany and Bashkir Airlines was settled out of court.

In September 2007, a court decision was made in the case of eight Skyguide employees - four of the accused were acquitted, four were found guilty of causing death by negligence. Three of them received suspended sentences, one was sentenced to a fine.

Murder

At first, the identity of the dispatcher who was on duty at the time of the disaster was not revealed. Subsequently, representatives of the Skyguide company told reporters that Peter Nielsen was deeply shocked by the tragedy. Shortly after the collision, he took an extended leave of absence, returned to the company a few months later, but moved to an office job and never worked in air traffic control again.

Almost two years after the disaster, but before the publication of the official conclusion of the commission of investigation, on February 24, 2004, a gray-haired man dressed all in black approached his house and tried to “attract the attention” of the owner. Nielsen, whose wife and three children were in the house, came out to him. After a short conversation, the man stabbed him several times and fled the crime scene.

The police immediately stated that they “do not exclude” the possibility of revenge against the dispatcher for the disaster over Lake Constance, and the dispatch company, until all the circumstances were clarified, strengthened the security of the remaining employees. Vitaly Kaloev was soon detained on suspicion of murder. He told investigators that he wanted to get an apology from the dispatcher. According to Kaloyev, he showed Nielsen a photograph of his dead family, but Nielsen knocked the photographs out of his hands and, according to some sources, laughed. Kaloev does not remember what happened after this.

In October 2005, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to eight years in prison; in 2006, the prison term was reduced, and in 2007, Kaloyev was released early for good behavior and sent to Russia. In North Ossetia, Vitaly Kaloev was greeted as a hero. A year later, in 2008, he took the post of Deputy Minister of Construction of the Republic.

"Clash" and "Aftermath"

Several documentaries were made about the circumstances of the disaster in Russia and abroad.

In April 2017, the feature film “Consequences,” based on the events of 2002–2004, was released in the United States. The role of the main character, whose prototype was Vitaly Kaloev, was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. After the premiere, Kaloev himself criticized the film for a number of inaccuracies and distortions.

At the same time, in April 2017, the book “Clash: The Candid Story of Vitaly Kaloev” was published in Russia. In it, from the words of Vitaly Kaloyev, the circumstances of the search operation and his last meeting with dispatcher Nielsen are described.

In 2002, two planes collided over the German Lake Constance near the city of Uberlingen on the night of July 1-2: a passenger Tu-154 of Bashkir Airlines and a postal Boeing 757 of an American airline. 72 people died, including 52 children from the Republic of Bashkiria, who, according to UNESCO, were recognized as the best in their studies and received a two-week vacation in Spain as a gift.

Architect Vitaly Kaloev, whose wife and two children died, stabbed air traffic controller Peter Nilsson more than 20 times, whom he considered the main culprit in the tragedy that happened 14 years ago.

Random flight

The family of Vitaly Kaloyev got on this flight by accident. They were flying to see him, their father, a famous architect who was finishing a project to build a house near Barcelona. In Moscow, Svetlana and her children had a transfer, but did not have the necessary tickets. They were offered to fly on a Bashkir Airlines plane that was flying to Barcelona.

Burnt trees

Residents of southern Germany saw in the night sky many multi-colored fireballs, bright sparks that quickly approached the lake and exploded. Some even thought that it was somehow connected with a UFO. But it was one of the worst and rarest aviation disasters of our time.

Plane debris fell on the border of Germany and Switzerland. Shrapnel and debris were scattered over a radius of 40 square kilometers. The trees were burned. For a whole week the police searched for the bodies of the victims. They found them in the field, near the school, near the roads.

Daughter's pearl necklace

Vitaly Kaloev, meanwhile, was waiting for his family in Barcelona. He was one of the first to come here to look for his relatives in the rural province of Southern Germany. The police did not want to let him into the scene of the tragedy, but they met him halfway when they learned that he would be looking for the dead with them.

In the forest, he found a torn pearl necklace of his four-year-old daughter Diana. To the surprise of the rescuers, his daughter’s body was practically undamaged. Search services will find the mutilated bodies of his wife Svetlana and ten-year-old son Konstantin much later.

Failed attempt to meet with dispatcher

After this, Vitaly approached the airline’s management several times and asked the same question regarding the degree of guilt of the dispatcher in the disaster that occurred over the lake. The director of the company was afraid of the “man with a beard”. The company management said nothing more about this. The aviation dispatcher remained at work in his place.

During this time, Vitaly went to the cemetery many times to visit the deceased family; in Vladikavkaz, he erected a monument to them.

Kaloev repeatedly appealed to the management of the Skyguide company with a request to meet with the dispatcher. At first they met him halfway, but then they refused without explanation. When mourning events dedicated to the anniversary of the tragedy took place, Kaloev again approached the leaders of the Swiss company, but did not receive any response from them.

Versions of the crash

Initially, a version widely spread in the media was that on that fateful night, aviation dispatcher Peter Nielsen was left alone in the room, while his comrades went to rest. He monitored the movements of the aircraft using two screens located at a distance of about a meter from each other. This was common practice in the company: only one operator remained to work at night. That night, the company's engineers turned off some of the equipment because they were carrying out preventative work on the radars.

According to investigators, on that day, by fatal accident, the air traffic controller did not correctly calculate the air corridor for two aircraft. They gained the same altitude and began a rapid approach, acting on commands from the ground. At this time, a third aircraft entered the airspace, diverting the controller's attention. There is interference in the radio communications. 22 months after the disaster, German investigators announced two main versions of the incident. Firstly, Peter Nielsen noticed the danger of a collision too late, and secondly, the Russian crew made a mistake by following the operator’s commands, and not their special on-board system warning of a dangerous approach. Investigators also pointed out to the company management that it was inadmissible for one operator to be on duty.

Air traffic controller killed

A year and a half later, this tragedy continued. In 2004, another terrible news spread across news agencies: on the threshold of his home on February 24, an air traffic controller, who was responsible for providing an air corridor for two aircraft, was killed. Forensic experts counted more than 20 stab wounds on the body of the attack victim, inflicted chaotically and with great force. The dispatcher died from his wounds on the threshold of his home. He left three children and a wife.

The 36-year-old dispatcher became the last, 72nd victim.

Mentally healthy

The police sent out a tip about a man of oriental appearance, dressed in black trousers and a black coat. Vitaly Kaloyev was found nearby in a local hotel. He was detained.

During the interrogation, he said that he found out the address of the dispatcher and rang his doorbell. When he opened it, he showed photographs of his children and wife. But then, according to Kaloev, he didn’t remember anything. Kaloyev did not tell the Swiss investigators anything else. He was placed for examination in a psychiatric clinic and, found sane, was given eight years in prison. The avenger served his term in a Swiss prison. Two years later, by decision of the Supreme Court of Switzerland, Kaloyev was released early for good behavior. He returned to his homeland in Ossetia, where he began working as Deputy Minister of Architecture and Construction of the Republic of North Ossetia.

The tragedy over Lake Constance became the main motive of the film by the American director "Aftermath", in which Arnold Schwarzenegger played by Vitaly Kaloev.

At an altitude of 4.3 thousand meters, on a Superjet plane heading to Sheremetyevo, the warning system about a dangerous approach to another aircraft, a Boeing, was activated, which was supposed to land at Vnukovo. The Superjet was flying from Tallinn to Moscow, the Boeing was flying from Murmansk. The airliners passed in the sky at a distance of about 600 meters from each other thanks to the well-coordinated work of dispatchers on the ground and pilots in the sky. No one was injured as a result of the incident.

Electronics monitor the approach of aircraft

A dangerous proximity of aircraft is a situation in which there is a threat of collision, taking into account the distance between the aircraft, their speed and location in the sky. The conditions for dangerous proximity and the permissible distances between aircraft are established by law and vary depending on the situation. As a rule, a threat to aircraft arises when routes are calculated incorrectly and when a controller or pilot makes a mistake.

To prevent collisions in the sky, all modern aircraft are equipped with the TCAS (Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System) system. It surveys the airspace around the aircraft and, if danger arises, gives a signal to the pilots and also provides recommendations on preferred actions.

For pilots, priority is given to the indications of the on-board system rather than the instructions of the dispatcher

If conflicting instructions are received simultaneously from the dispatcher and the warning system, the TCAS instruction takes precedence. However, sometimes aircraft captains make the wrong decision and do what is recommended to them from the ground. It is known that people make mistakes more often than technology, so such mistakes sometimes lead to tragic consequences.

Similar incidents are happening all over the world

A similar incident occurred, for example, on January 31, 2001 in the skies over Suruga Bay (Japan) in Shizuoka Prefecture: two Japan Airlines airliners almost collided. At an altitude of more than 10 thousand meters, the pilot of flight 907 ignored the proximity warning system, which gave the command to climb, and continued to descend at the command of the dispatcher. At the same time, Flight 958 was descending at the same altitude. Seconds before the possible collision, the controller gave the correct command to climb, but the pilot of Flight 907 did not have time to carry out the command because he saw another plane flying across it. He miraculously avoided the collision by “diving” under the plane of Flight 958. Due to the sharp maneuver, the passengers of Flight 907 received serious injuries: many were thrown into the ceiling, one child flew across four rows of seats, and some people had broken limbs. As a result of the investigation into the incident, the court found the dispatchers guilty.

Quite often, a dangerous approach occurs without any consequences for passengers. For example, in 2016, two Boeings came dangerously close over the Ivanovo region. Then one of the pilots decided to commit. The second plane was gaining altitude at that time, but thanks to the activated warning systems, the tragedy did not occur.

Some encounters ended in disaster

So, on July 1, 2002, a tragedy occurred over Lake Constance (Germany) that shocked the world. A Boeing cargo plane flying from Bahrain - Bergamo - Brussels and a Bashkir Airlines Tu-154 flying from Moscow to Barcelona collided in the sky. As a result of the disaster, 71 people died - all pilots and passengers of both ships. There were 52 children flying on board the Tu-154, who were sent on vacation to Spain as an incentive for good studies at a specialized UNESCO school. The children's lives were cut short at the very takeoff.

The cause of the disaster was also an error by the dispatcher: he untimely warned the Tu-154 pilot about the threat of a collision with the Boeing and provided incorrect information about the position of the ships relative to each other. The Tu-154 commander ignored the TCAS command to climb, obeying the controller, who gave instructions to descend. The planes collided at an altitude of 10,634 meters and broke into several parts in the air.

Vitaly Kaloev, a suspect in the murder of an air traffic controller for the Swiss company Skyguide, due to whose mistake two planes collided over Lake Constance, gave his first interview. Now the Russian is awaiting trial. Kaloev does not deny his guilt, but says that he does not remember how he committed the crime while in a state of passion. In a telephone interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, he spoke about what happened on the day when air traffic controller Peter Nielsen was killed.

“I knocked. Nielsen came out. I first motioned for him to invite me into the house. But he slammed the door. I called again and told him: “Ikh bin Russland” (“I am Russia”). I remember these words from school He said nothing. I took out the photographs that showed the bodies of my children. I wanted him to look at them. But he pushed my hand away and made a sharp gesture for me to get out... Like a dog: Well, I said nothing. You see, I was overcome with resentment. Even my eyes filled with tears. I extended my hand with the photographs to him for the second time and said in Spanish: “Look!” ... Probably,” said Vitaly Kaloev, adding that he does not remember how he left the air traffic controller’s house.

He claims that he came to the air traffic controller’s house in order to force him to apologize for his tragic mistake: “I decided to make him repent. I wanted to show him photographs of my murdered family, and then go with him to Skyguide and call the television to they - Nielsen and Rossier (the head of the company) - apologized to me on camera. This desire of mine was not a secret to anyone."

The Russian says that he repeatedly asked the director of the Swiss company to arrange a meeting with Nielsen, but he refused: “Yes, in 2003 I asked Skyguide to show me Nielsen, and they hid him. And then I received a fax letter. Skyguide asked, so that I renounce my dead family: I received compensation and signed the papers, according to which I agreed so that the company would no longer be persecuted. I called them and said that I would like to meet with Nielsen and discuss these issues, but he first agreed. then he refused."

Kaloev admits that he does not regret the death of the dispatcher: “How should I feel sorry for him? You see, it didn’t make me feel any better that he died. My children didn’t return...” While in prison, he is unable to speak Russian, but truly suffers only because he cannot visit the graves of his loved ones.

The suspect in the murder, a native of North Ossetia, says that he understands better than anyone else what it is like now for the relatives of the victims of the Beslan tragedy: “No one understands the Beslanites better than me. I don’t know how they can continue to live.” “I watched it on TV and sent a telegram of condolences to the president of North Ossetia... And I wrote about what bastards the Swiss are, they told me: “Serves you right!” And the doctor here said: “You should feel better. Because there are already a lot of people like you..." says Kaloev.

The Russian said that, like many residents of Beslan, he still sees no point in further life: “For now, my plans are to live to see the trial. But I’m not afraid of it. And I don’t recognize it. That’s what I told them: the Swiss court is for means nothing to me. For me, the judgment of my children is higher. If they could, they would say that I really loved them, that I did not leave them, that I did not allow them to disappear without a trace."

In Germany, it happened on July 2, 2002 - due to an error by the dispatcher and the crew of a Russian plane, a cargo Boeing 757 and a Tu-154 of Bashkir Airlines collided. There were 69 people on board the latter. All of them, including Kaloev’s wife, son and daughter, died.

Numerous violations of safety rules committed by Skyguide, after two years, nevertheless forced the Swiss. Last summer, after Nielsen’s death, they offered to pay $150 thousand for each victim, but this move only angered the relatives.

Today a tragedy occurred: a Saratov Airlines passenger plane crashed in the Moscow region. An-148 was flying from the capital to Orsk. 71 people were on board: 65 passengers and 6 crew members. There are no survivors.

The President expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. In connection with this tragedy, Vladimir Putin changed his schedule: his working trip to Sochi was postponed. As the Kremlin press service reported, in order for the president to have the opportunity to directly coordinate the work of a special commission to determine the causes of the tragedy. The commission was created on behalf of the head of state.

These images were taken by eyewitnesses a few minutes after the disaster. The wreckage of the plane is scattered in a snow-covered field; around, at least at first glance, there are no signs of fire or explosion. It was as if he had simply fallen to the ground from a height. At the same time, the picture at the crash site - the wreckage is scattered over a radius of an entire kilometer - allows us to make the assumption that the airliner collapsed while still in the air. And eyewitnesses say that before the fall the plane seemed to be engulfed in flames.

Data on how long the plane remained in the air still vary. At first it was reported that the flight lasted about seven minutes. Later, information was received that it crashed just two minutes after takeoff. One way or another, the crash site is the outskirts of the village of Argunovo in the Ramensky district of the Moscow region - located just over 30 kilometers from Domodedovo airport.

“After a very strong bang, we went to look for the place where this cotton was found. The entire field is approximately the size of two football fields,” said the eyewitness.

The Moscow-Orsk flight took off from Domodedovo airport at 14:21. And soon disappeared from the radar screens. Online publications publish the words of an air traffic controller, allegedly the same one who monitored the air situation in the area of ​​the crash - the plane took off as normal, then began to descend, but no longer made contact and did not respond to requests. Even an audio recording of the negotiations has appeared on the Internet, although it is not yet possible to guarantee its authenticity.

One thing is certain: the crew did not report any malfunctions on board, although the breakdown of the aircraft, along with piloting error and unfavorable weather conditions, are now the three main versions of the disaster.

According to the official representative of the Investigative Committee, Svetlana Petrenko, operational documentation from the Saratov Airlines company is being confiscated, and its employees are being interrogated. In addition, investigators began interrogating workers at Domodedovo airport who were preparing the aircraft for flight.

So far, too little is known about the last flight of the crashed plane, but experts have already noticed its strange trajectory. According to the Flytradar service, after takeoff from Domodedovo it began to rise to a level of 1800 meters, then dropped to one and a half thousand, then rose again, and after that the plane sharply descended. Because of these contradictory data, at first there was even a version that the An-148 could collide with a helicopter in the air. But later these rumors were denied.

Aviation experts now suggest that the cause could be icing of the airliner - in the event that a piece of ice got into the engine.

“Sometimes, because of the weather, because of icing, something can happen. The plane was poorly treated or fell into sudden, severe icing. The weather here could only play a negative role if there was an engine failure and the crew did not see the site and could not pick up and land,” says Honored Russian Pilot Yuri Sytnik.

The crashed An-148 belonged to Saratov Airlines. Until that day, its fleet had four aircraft of this type. A short-haul aircraft designed to carry 80 passengers. The plane that crashed was produced less than eight years ago. At first it belonged to Rossiya Airlines and flew, among other things, on foreign routes. Later it was sold to Saratov. And the airline assures that they have no doubts about the serviceability of the aircraft or the qualifications of the crew.

“There was an experienced crew on board. The aircraft commander is Valery Ivanovich Gubanov, who has more than 5 thousand flight hours, and on this type Valery Ivanovich had 2147 flight hours,” said Elena Voronova, head of the press service of Saratov Airlines.

“8 years is, of course, not a long time for an airplane. Moreover, Antonovskaya is a reliable company. Our airworthiness standards are the most stringent in the world. Not only for new production aircraft, but for aircraft that are being submitted for testing,” said Honored Test Pilot of the USSR Vitaly Zhiltsov.

Meanwhile, the authorities are already publishing a list of those killed in the disaster. There were 71 people on board the plane - 65 passengers and six crew members. No one had a chance to survive.

The head of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, Maxim Sokolov, said that “in accordance with federal legislation, all relatives of the victims are paid insurance in the amount of more than 2 million rubles, and the necessary additional decisions in this direction will be made through the subject.”

To identify the bodies in the An-148 crash, DNA samples from relatives of the victims will be delivered to Moscow from Orsk by a special plane of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The bodies will be identified at the Moscow Bureau of Expertise.

The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations has opened a hotline. Phone: 8-800-775-17-17.

The hotline also operates in the Orenburg region: 8-3532-308-999.

There are almost 600 rescuers at the crash site of the An-148 passenger plane in the Moscow region. The wreckage is scattered over a large area, the search operation will be carried out around the clock, one of the black boxes has already been found.

“We have formed operational groups that work here and in Orsk, in the Orenburg region. The operational group works in Domodedovo and, where necessary, in the Moscow region. I will ask to provide support for all relatives and friends, taking into account vital signs, to organize the duty of medical teams of social workers and all specialists who are needed for vital reasons,” instructed the head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov.

At the Orsk airport, the relatives of the victims are provided with all the necessary assistance. Airport director Sergei Sukharev said that psychologists and doctors work at the first-aid post.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' performed a prayer service for those killed in this crash. Condolences were offered to Russian citizens in connection with the crash of the An-148 plane by the Prime Minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy, the foreign ministers of Turkey, France and Belgium and other countries.

In connection with this tragedy, Channel One is changing its broadcast schedule. Immediately after our program, instead of the club game “What? Where? When?" - broadcast from the Olympic Pyeongchang