Drop zone. Loud plane crashes with victims on the ground. The crash of "Ruslan". Ruslan plane crash 1997 will never be forgotten

The An-124 Ruslan military transport aircraft crashed onto residential buildings in Irkutsk-2 on December 6, 1997. Today is exactly 20 years since the plane crash that claimed the lives of 72 people. Eyewitnesses still remember that Saturday day with horror. The chronology of the tragic event is presented by IrkutskMedia news agency.

On December 6, 1997, at 14.42, the An-124 military transport aircraft took off from the airfield in Irkutsk-2. "Ruslan" transported two Su-27 fighters, assembled at the Irkutsk aircraft plant, to Vietnam.

Lieutenant Colonel of the Internal Service, Deputy Head of the Second Detachment of the Federal Fire Service for the Irkutsk Region, Igor Utkin, said that they were preparing to send Ruslan in advance. There were many fire crews on the runway.

I was at the airport. It immediately became clear to us that something was going wrong. It was clear to the naked eye that the plane could not gain altitude. Everything happened instantly...” recalls Igor Utkin.

Three seconds after liftoff at a height of five meters, engine No. 3 switched off. Six seconds later, at an altitude of 22 meters, the second engine stopped, and after another two seconds, the third. The crew was unable to keep the plane on one engine. "Ruslan" crashed onto residential building No. 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street. The tail demolished part of house No. 120 on Mira Street, and the remaining debris fell on the building of an orphanage. A terrible fire started. Firefighters immediately arrived on the scene.

The tanks of the An-124 were full, which is about two railway tanks. The fuel spilled and the fire broke out instantly. We filmed people directly from the burning balconies,” said Igor Utkin.

Resident of house No. 120 on Mira Street Svetlana Timoshkova I was at home that day. In the afternoon she went to sweep the entrance, according to the cleaning schedule.

I took the correspondence from the mailbox and decided to take it home, and sat down to look at the newspapers. It was at this time that everything happened. I felt a strong push and went out to see what happened there. It seemed to me that it was an earthquake. I opened the door, and there was nothing visible there at all. Just a dark pit. Everything is in black smoke. I quickly got ready and went to the balcony, which overlooked the other side of the house. The firefighters arrived and offered to evacuate me using vertical ladders that cling to the balcony, and I had to go down them. But I refused, I realized that I couldn’t. And I waited for the fire truck, they took me down the stairs at an angle,” recalls Svetlana.

The burning area of aircraft debris, fuel and buildings was about 11 thousand square meters. meters. The area was immediately cordoned off. An operational headquarters was created at the site of the disaster to eliminate the consequences.

The family of one of our employees lived in house No. 45 on Civil. At the time of the disaster, his younger brother was in the apartment, sitting at the table, studying. When we found him, the boy was sitting in the same position, he didn’t even have time to understand anything,” recalls Igor Utkin.

Firefighters and rescuers worked without rest or sleep. Doctors worked at the scene, heating and food were provided for those involved in the liquidation of the consequences. Specialists were working to accommodate the residents who were saved. On the night of December 7, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu and the operational group of the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived in Irkutsk. By morning, the fire was extinguished, and work began to extract the bodies from the rubble and identify the bodies of the dead.

Grief carried through the years: Since the day of the An-124 crash. Photo: Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Irkutsk region

The tail of the plane rested on house No. 120. On the afternoon of December 7, it was decided to drop the tail of the plane to the ground. In the evening, a group of demolition bombers flew out from Moscow to bring down the walls of houses after the rescue work was completed. During December 8, almost all the remains of the destroyed aircraft were removed. On December 10, the decision to blow up the damaged house was canceled due to the danger of damaging city communications, and its remains were destroyed in the usual ways.

We were offered the services of professional psychologists, but I refused. However, six months later I began to fear returning home, to this particular house. As a result, I changed my apartment and moved to another area,” Svetlana recalled 18 years later.

A special commission was created to investigate the causes of the disaster. The crew's internal conversations were not preserved - both flight recorders were at the epicenter of the fire and were severely damaged. The commission never came to a clear conclusion regarding engine failure. The reasons for their switching off, either using objective control means or experimentally, could not be definitively established. At the same time, experts have repeatedly expressed an opinion about the design shortcomings of the D-18T engines manufactured by the Ukrainian Motor Sich OJSC (these engines were installed on the deceased An-124), writes RIA Novosti.

After the disaster, Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu announced that it was not the crew’s fault. The plane was piloted by experienced, well-trained pilots.

In 1999, in Irkutsk, on Mira Street, on the site of one of the destroyed houses, the Church of the Nativity of Christ was erected, the first service of which was dedicated to the memory of the victims.

Church of the Nativity. Photo: Maria Olennikova, IrkutskMedia

Death from the sky. 1997, terrible disaster in Irkutsk

A 1997 plane crash in Irkutsk claimed 72 lives. Residents of the microdistrict on which the An-124 plane with two fighters on board fell still remember the tragic events of that time with tears in their eyes.

17 years have passed since the tragic crash of the An-124 plane onto a residential building in Irkutsk. Residents of house No. 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street were doing their usual things on this Saturday: someone was watching TV, someone was busy in the kitchen. Parents and children were planning the weekend, and at that time the children from the neighboring orphanage No. 1 were walking in the yard.

The An-124 "Ruslan" is a heavy transport carrier with a payload capacity of 120 tons. On December 6, he was supposed to take off from the airfield of the Irkutsk Aviation Plant to transport two Su-27 fighters assembled at the plant to Vietnam.

On December 6, 1997, at 14.42 local time, the Ruslan, unable to gain altitude, crashed directly into a residential area of the aircraft manufacturing town in Irkutsk.

All that was left of the huge plane was the tail section. Photo: From personal archive/ Boris Khlebnikov
Igor Petrovich Utkin, lieutenant colonel of the internal service, deputy head of the 2nd detachment of the fire service of Irkutsk, recalls the events of that day:

“On this day, I, as the commander of a separate detachment of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, went on duty as part of the group accompanying this flight. I was personally at the airfield when the Ruslan took off. It became clear immediately that something was wrong with the plane. It was clear that he could not gain altitude. Everything happened very quickly, in a matter of seconds. When Ruslan began to descend, we already understood that the crash site would be a residential area.”

The Ministry of Emergency Situations teams managed to get to the scene of the disaster quickly. A terrible picture appeared before the eyes of the rescuers: the collapsed plane damaged several wooden barracks at once, part of the orphanage No. 1 was burning, the huge tail of the aircraft crushed the five-story building. But the most terrible sight was house No. 45, completely engulfed in fire.

“After the fall, a terrible fire started,” continues Igor Utkin. – Ruslan’s tanks were filled to capacity; they were almost two railway tanks. The impact caused aviation fuel to splash out and the fire flared up instantly with enormous force. People caught in the fire wave died in a matter of seconds.”

By the time the fire crews arrived, the surviving people were rushing about on the balconies and in the open windows, it was clear that panic and fire were pushing them outside, a few more minutes and someone could have jumped out. Firefighters had to deploy light ladders and remove people directly from the burning balconies.

“Of course the situation was very difficult psychologically. The family of one of our employees lived in house 45. At the time of the disaster, his younger brother was in the apartment, sitting at the table and doing his homework. We found him in this position in a burnt-out apartment. The boy didn’t have time to understand anything, not even to jump up,” says Igor Utkin.

“My family still lives in a dormitory, the windows of which overlook the very place where the plane crashed,” recalls Natalya Bochkarnikova. “That day, I came home from work, tired. I remember seeing a plane flying low through the window and even managed to shout to my son to move away from the window. Then everything was like in a dream... I jumped out into the yard, it was already full of people, the forty-fifth house was in some kind of thick fog and fire, and from there burning people were running out to meet us. We placed them in their rooms, revived them, and provided medical assistance. Everything is still before my eyes.”

Extinguishing the burning fuel and rubble lasted more than a day and a half. All this time, the firefighters were supported by residents of the area. Despite the double cordon of the meta-disaster, the townspeople managed to bring tea and sandwiches to the rescuers.

“My friends and I wanted to help in some way,” says Irkutsk resident Andrei Nikolaev. “At that time we still didn’t know exactly what had happened and what was burning, we just walked into the glow. As a result, they went straight to the fire. Houses and cars parked nearby were on fire. Rescuers carried the wounded. It was scary to see how the dead people were piled up in front of the school building, which was very close to the site of the tragedy. Of course, there was no help from us; they simply didn’t let us in. A huge number of cadets, the fire service, and the police worked on the spot without us. Through the cordon, ordinary people passed tea, buns, and some pies. Many were crying. I was struck by the feeling of extraordinary unity. Trouble brought us together."

Burnt cars. Photo: From personal archive/ Boris Khlebnikov

During the disaster and fire, 72 people died. Of these, 23 crew members and 49 Irkutsk residents, including 14 children. Witnesses say that on this day a wedding was planned in house No. 45. In the morning, a multi-colored poster “Tili-tili, dough” hung on the entrance door. The bride lives here." The newlyweds left just a few minutes before the plane crashed, but a large number of their guests remained in the apartment.

“There was a feeling of unreality of what was happening. It feels like you’re in a horror movie,” recalls Natalya Pushkareva, a resident of the aircraft manufacturing town. “Several of my friends died in this fire. There were also those who miraculously escaped death. I just went about my business a minute before the disaster and turned the corner of the house. One of our friends died in his apartment along with his child. They were found in a chair, sitting in an embrace.”

Firefighters worked in the cold without noticing it. Photo: Irkipedia.ru/ Boris Slepnev

There were only a few children in Orphanage No. 1 at the time of the disaster. Some went to the Children's Art Center, others to the pool and skating rink. In the fifth group there were only three girls left and their teacher, who 15 minutes before the tragedy brought her son Makar to the group. As employees of the institution later recalled, the fire literally rushed into the room, Makar burst into flames like a candle, and other children were also burning.

At this very time, pupils of the orphanage Yana Potanina and Lyuda Shashkina were playing on the playground very close to the 45th house. The girls were missed only in the evening, when all the children from the orphanage were transported to boarding school No. 13. The director of the orphanage, Galina Kryukova, and her staff wandered for a long time near the cordon, questioning the firefighters. At night, the woman was called for identification. The girls' bodies were burned so badly that they were reduced to 70-80 centimeters.

Exactly five days later, 15-year-old Anya Zernis, who was injured in a fire in the group, died in an Irkutsk hospital. Makar Mileshko was flown to Moscow, but his life could not be saved; he died in mid-January 1998.

Sergei Shoigu at the scene of the disaster. Photo: Irkipedia.ru/ Boris Slepnev

The perpetrators have not been named

The investigation into the causes of the accident raised many questions. It was not possible to definitively answer why Ruslan fell. During the fire, the “black boxes” were almost completely burned out and the information from the crew’s conversations could not be restored. It is known that three engines of the plane failed at once, so the ship was unable to rise into the air higher than 66 meters. Some experts believe that this was due to the aircraft being overloaded. The case materials also contain a reference to possible problems with the D-18T engines, which were produced by the Ukrainian company Motor Sich OJSC. These units apparently had problems with gas-dynamic stability, especially at high angles of attack.

It is likely that the reason for the fall of “Ruslan” could have been a failure of the on-board computer.

Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, who, by the way, personally supervised the liquidation of the consequences of the disaster, expressed the opinion that the crew was not to blame for the crash of the plane. The pilots were more than experienced; the ship's commander, Vladimir Fedorov, had 2,800 flight hours, 110 of which he flew in 1997. Co-pilot Vladimir Ivanov spent 4,020 hours in the air, of which 240 hours were in 1997.

Some of the residents of the aircraft manufacturing village are confident that the pilots did not warm up the engines and fuel, which is why the plane was unable to gain altitude. Many witnesses claim that there would have been much more casualties if the plane had flown a few more meters and fallen into a more densely built-up area.

The most incredible version of the tragedy was put forward by the writer Andrei Tamantsev in his novel “Angle of Attack.” The plot is based on the machinations of American intelligence services, who allegedly tried to get large contracts for the supply of combat aircraft.

Memory of the tragedy

House No. 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street and four wooden apartment barracks were demolished immediately after the tragedy. Almost 70 families left homeless had to be resettled. A few months later, construction of the Church of the Nativity began on the site where people died.

The bright, tall temple opened its doors in October 1999. A capsule with memories of people who lost loved ones in the plane crash was laid in the foundation of the temple. There is a memorial next to the church where the names of all those who died are immortalized in stone. The memorial is decorated with 72 chrome candlesticks, corresponding to the number of victims.

Memorial to those killed in the plane crash. Photo: From personal archive/Roman Sizykh
The orphanage was also reconstructed in 1999. The crash site has become one of the spiritual centers of the aircraft manufacturing town; rallies and liturgies are held here every year on the day of remembrance of the tragedy.

Exactly 20 years have passed since the tragic crash of the An-124 plane onto a residential building in Irkutsk. Residents of house No. 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street were doing their usual things on this Saturday: someone was watching TV, someone was busy in the kitchen. Parents and children were planning the weekend, and at that time the children from the neighboring orphanage No. 1 were walking in the yard.

On December 6, 1997, at 14.42 local time, the Ruslan, unable to gain altitude, crashed directly into a residential area of the aircraft manufacturing town in Irkutsk.

All that was left of the huge plane was the tail section. Photo: From personal archive/ Boris Khlebnikov

Recalls the events of that day Igor Petrovich Utkin, lieutenant colonel of internal service, deputy head of the 2nd fire department of Irkutsk:


Igor Utkin

“On this day, I, as the commander of a separate detachment of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, went on duty as part of the group accompanying this flight. I was personally at the airfield when the Ruslan took off. It became immediately clear that something was wrong with the plane. It was clear that he could not gain altitude. Everything happened very quickly, in a matter of seconds. When Ruslan began to descend, we already understood that the crash site would be a residential area.”

Fire extinguishing. Photo: From personal archive/ Boris Khlebnikov

“After the fall, a terrible fire started,” continues Igor Utkin. - Ruslan’s tanks were filled to capacity; they were almost two railway tanks. The impact caused aviation fuel to splash out and the fire flared up instantly with enormous force. People caught in the fire wave died in a matter of seconds.”

House No. 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street. Photo: Irkipedia.ru / Boris Slepnev

“My family still lives in a dormitory whose windows overlook the very place where the plane crashed,” recalls Natalya Bochkarnikova. “That day, I came home from work, tired. I remember seeing a plane flying low through the window and even managed to shout to my son to move away from the window. Then everything was like in a dream... I jumped out into the yard, it was already full of people, the forty-fifth house was in some kind of thick fog and fire, and from there burning people were running out to meet us. We placed them in their rooms, revived them, and provided medical assistance. Everything is still before my eyes.”

“My friends and I wanted to help in some way,” says the Irkutsk resident Andrey Nikolaev, - Then we still didn’t know exactly what had happened and what was burning, we just walked towards the glow. As a result, they went straight to the fire. Houses and cars parked nearby were on fire. Rescuers carried the wounded. It was scary to see how the dead people were piled up in front of the school building, which was very close to the site of the tragedy. Of course, there was no help from us; they simply didn’t let us in. A huge number of cadets, the fire service, and the police worked on the spot without us. Through the cordon, ordinary people passed tea, buns, and some pies. Many were crying. I was struck by the feeling of extraordinary unity. Trouble brought us together."

Burnt cars. Photo: From personal archive/ Boris Khlebnikov

“There was a feeling of unreality of what was happening. “It feels like you’re in a horror movie,” recalls a resident of an aircraft manufacturing town. Natalia Pushkareva. - Several of my friends died in this fire. There were also those who miraculously escaped death. I just went about my business a minute before the disaster and turned the corner of the house. One of our friends died in his apartment along with his child. They were found in a chair, sitting in an embrace.”

Firefighters worked in the cold without noticing it. Photo: Irkipedia.ru / Boris Slepnev

Sergei Shoigu at the scene of the disaster. Photo: Irkipedia.ru / Boris Slepnev

The perpetrators have not been named

It is likely that the reason for the fall of “Ruslan” could have been a failure of the on-board computer.

Boris Khlebnikov
Boris Khlebnikov
Boris Khlebnikov
Boris Khlebnikov
Boris Khlebnikov
Boris Khlebnikov
Boris Khlebnikov
© Irkipedia.ru / Boris Slepnev
Boris Khlebnikov
© Irkipedia.ru / Boris Slepnev
© Irkipedia.ru / Boris Slepnev
©

The first major plane crash of 2017, which occurred on the morning of January 16 near Bishkek, was not the most typical. Most of the victims this time were not passengers and crew members, but residents.

A Boeing 747 transport plane of the Turkish company ACT crashed while landing at Kyrgyzstan's Manas airport. The airliner fell in the village of Dacha-Suu, located 1.5-2 km from the airport runway.

In Dacha-Suu, at least 15 houses were destroyed, the residents of which made up the majority of the 37 deaths that are currently known.

Living in the immediate vicinity of an airport, especially in an area through which planes take off and land, is unsafe. When constructing air harbors, everything is done to minimize such a threat.

But sometimes new residential communities appear in the danger zone after the airport begins operations. Sometimes it happens differently - due to a lack of space, the airport is initially located near areas of mass development. In such cases, one can only rely on the skill of the pilots and the reliability of the safety systems.

The unwritten law of pilots states that the crew must steer the plane away from residential areas, even if such a maneuver could cost the lives of the pilots themselves.

But sometimes it’s impossible to do this. During takeoff and landing, a catastrophic situation develops so quickly that there is simply no time left to take any action.

Despite the fact that a disaster scenario similar to the one that occurred near Bishkek is not the most common, there are many tragic cases of this kind.

1992 A Boeing 747 cargo plane crashes into a residential complex in Amsterdam

On October 4, 1992, El Al Airlines Boeing 747-258F-SCD cargo aircraft operated flight LY 1862 on the route New York—Amsterdam—Tel Aviv. Six minutes after takeoff from Amsterdam airport, two right engines failed. The pilots turned the plane around and tried to land it at Amsterdam Airport, but the plane overturned and crashed into the Groenevan residential complex in the suburb of Bijlmeer.

The plane crashed into the 6th floor of an 11-story residential building, destroying 31 apartments. A total of 43 people died, 39 of whom were residents of the destroyed building. In addition, 26 people on the ground were injured of varying degrees of severity.

The version of the terrorist attack, which was initially considered, was not confirmed. The investigation established that the mounting of the third engine failed due to metal fatigue at the moment of maximum takeoff loads. The detached engine crashed into the adjacent fourth engine, tearing it off and also damaging the surface of the wing. After this, it turned out to be impossible to keep the plane in the air.

1996 An An-32 plane crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa

On January 8, 1996, in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (at that time called Zaire), Kinshasa, the largest disaster in terms of the number of victims on earth occurred.

A Russian An-32B cargo plane operated by Moscow Airways was making a cargo flight from Kinshasa to Kahemba.

The plane began its takeoff run, reached the estimated takeoff speed, but was unable to lift off the ground. The crew's actions to abort the takeoff did not prevent the aircraft from rolling off the runway and airport.

Near the airport there was a market filled with people. The plane flew into the crowd, rushed through the shopping arcades for about 240 meters and caught fire after colliding with market buildings.

Of the six crew members, only the flight mechanic died, the rest were evacuated. 297 people, mostly women and children, were killed on the ground, and another 253 were injured.

The bodies of the dead were so mutilated that only 66 people could be identified. The unidentified victims were buried in a mass grave.

Russian investigative authorities found that the flights of International Air Lines were carried out with significant violations, which led to the ban on the company's activities on January 4, 1996 by the commission of the Moscow Regional Air Transport Administration due to poor-quality aircraft maintenance. However, the company continued to operate illegally until the disaster in Kinshasa.

The cause of the disaster, according to investigators, was a flight with a take-off weight exceeding the maximum permissible. According to calculations, the take-off weight of the aircraft during takeoff was 29,200-34,000 kg, that is, it exceeded the maximum permissible 27,000 kg.

The Zairean authorities accused the An-32 commander of the murder of two Russian citizens. Nikolai Kazarin and co-pilot Andrey Guskov. The pilots were each sentenced to two years in prison.

1997 Cargo An-124 "Ruslan" fell on residential areas of Irkutsk

On December 6, 1997, an An-124-100 aircraft transported two Su-27UBK fighter aircraft assembled by the Irkutsk Aviation Plant to Vietnam. Three seconds after lifting off the runway of the Irkutsk airfield, one of the engines failed. Over the next 8 seconds, two more engines failed. A transport plane with a left bank and low forward speed crashed onto house No. 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street. The tail of the plane significantly hit house No. 120 on Mira Street, and the remaining debris hit the building of an orphanage.

Tens of tons of fuel instantly ignited, leaving people no chance of salvation.

A total of 72 people died, 49 of whom were on the ground, including 14 children.

Officially, the cause of engine failure was considered to be overloading of the aircraft, although not all experts still agree with this version.

year 2000. Concorde crash near Paris

On July 25, 2000, the Air France supersonic passenger airliner Concorde operated charter flight AFR 4590 on the Paris-New York route.

While taking off on the runway, the plane's left engine caught fire. It was no longer possible to stop the takeoff, and the crew decided to take off, only to then turn around and make an emergency landing. However, the failure of another engine actually made it impossible for the pilots to control the plane. Two minutes after takeoff, the Concorde crashed into the small hotel Hôtelissimo Les Relais Bleus in the municipality of Gonesse, about 3 kilometers from the airport. The liner was completely destroyed and the hotel building was engulfed in fire. As a result of the disaster, 113 people died - 109 on board the Concorde and 4 people in the hotel. Another 12 people on the ground were injured.

The investigation established that during the takeoff run of the airliner along the runway, the main landing gear tire was damaged by a titanium plate, which separated from the engine of the American McDonnell Douglas DC-10 aircraft, which was taking off on the same runway. Debris from the tire pierced the balancing fuel tank, resulting in a short circuit and ignition of the jet fuel, followed by an engine fire.

The disaster near Paris put an end to the history of commercial operation of the Concorde.

Interestingly, the supersonic Concorde died just 5 km from the place where another supersonic passenger airliner, the Tu-144, crashed in 1973 during a demonstration flight.

On June 3, 1973, during a demonstration flight at the Le Bourget air show, the Tu-144 suddenly went into a dive, and a few seconds later it disintegrated in the air and fell onto the residential areas of the town of Goussainville located below it.

All 6 crew members died in the disaster, as well as 8 people on the ground, including three children. 25 people on the ground were injured.

December 6 will mark 20 years since the plane crash in Irkutsk-II. Then an AN-124 Ruslan military transport plane fell on a residential area. 72 people died, including children from an orphanage whose building was hit by debris. On the eve of the mournful date, rescuers and eyewitnesses of the crash gathered at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in the Irkutsk region to remember the events of twenty years ago.

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Audio version of the material

It was Saturday. "Ruslan" was operating a flight Moscow - Irkutsk - Vladivostok - Cam Ranh; it was supposed to deliver two fighters to Vietnam. The ship took off from the Irkutsk-II airfield at 14:44. The plane had barely crossed the airfield fence when three out of four engines failed in turn.

On the airfield, firefighters monitored the takeoff according to safety rules. Ten fire brigade vehicles were deployed to accompany the super-heavy aircraft. Sergei Belousov, who then worked as an assistant chief of the eighth fire department, recalls: when the plane took off, something red flashed near the engine, like sparks. At first the ship rose, then it went straight and suddenly began to sink. Sergei Belousov shouted to his partners that they needed to go forward to the plane. The cars started moving, black smoke appeared before their eyes, the rescuers’ radio started working - they were told where “Ruslan” fell. The crews arrived there literally in five minutes.

Such an incident will remain in the memory forever. My wife, child and mother-in-law were 400 meters further from the crash site. I prayed, drove and worried,” says Sergei Belousov. “But our service is such that we had to throw away everything personal. I switched gears and started looking at the hydrant, where and how to install the car, when they told us the address. As we moved, we carried out reconnaissance, looking at the best way to approach and from which direction the wind was blowing. There I already forgot about my loved ones and completely devoted myself to work.

The plane crashed on house number 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street. Debris scattered throughout the area. The tail crashed into a five-story building on Mira Street and damaged it; some parts flew into the building of orphanage No. 1. The spilled kerosene flared up in an instant, and a terrible fire began. Those who miraculously managed to survive at home called for help from open windows and burning balconies.

All eight crew members and 15 passengers of the plane, as well as 49 residents of the area where the aircraft crashed, were killed. The tragedy claimed the lives of 14 children. The plane fell on houses where the families of some of the firefighters who saw off Ruslan lived. In the 45th house, the family of one of them burned down. Two boys died there; their parents witnessed this horror. The family's story was told in a documentary about the plane crash in 2007 by the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sergei Shoigu:

They were walking with their parents, decided to go home to take the dog with them, and at that moment the plane.

They also say that in the 45th house on that fateful day there was a wedding, guests were waiting for the bride and groom, but the newlyweds were delayed, and this saved their lives.

Galina Kryukova, who at that time was the director of the orphanage, says: at first they thought that an earthquake had occurred.

It was a dream-hour,” the woman recalls. - The preschool children were sleeping. Therefore, they ran out into the street barefoot and undressed. And the day was frosty. And that’s how we carried them on buses.

The children were evacuated to boarding school No. 13. It was impossible to stay in the orphanage, because one half of it burned out, and the other was flooded by firefighters.

Of course, there could have been more victims, but our children went to an event at the art house, someone was at the skating rink. We were just a little lucky that there were few children in the room,” says Galina Kryukova. - First we found two girls burned, and on the fifth day Anya Zernis died. The teacher’s son Makar suffered very badly; he was sent to Moscow, he lived for a month and a half. Rimma Vasilyeva, a girl who today works as a cook in the canteen of an aircraft factory, suffered severe burns. She maintains the relationship, but she does not dare to have a special conversation.

Valery Perfilyev, who was the deputy head of the state fire service that year, is surprised how the plane did not explode. He says there were all the prerequisites for this.

Ruslan was filled with 110 tons, his full filling was 180 tons. Under-refueling of 70 tons means the presence of an explosive mixture in the aircraft. And why it didn’t explode when it fell is completely unclear. Since the explosion did not occur, it means that the area was flooded with kerosene. Kerosene under the snow, kerosene everywhere. What to do? If we begin to withdraw forces and resources and stop extinguishing buildings, the kerosene will immediately flare up. We decided to continue extinguishing and pouring water. Lily intentionally to wash away the remaining kerosene. And they increased their forces and means, although the fire was localized within an hour despite the fact that it was very strong. Until 5 p.m., we continued to request forces and means, feeling danger and taking risks. There was no other way out.

The fire was extinguished for more than a day and a half, and it took six days to eliminate the consequences of the disaster. Gennady Faizrakhmanov, who then headed the department of the state fire service, says that the rescuers showed miracles of courage. They worked in the cold, water had to be delivered from the Angara, the disaster area could not provide uninterrupted water supply, so they stretched a six-kilometer line from the river.

After the fire was extinguished, it was necessary to remove the debris and remove the tail from the five-story building. The railway workers provided powerful lighting systems that helped work at night, provided special lifts and ropes, and the builders brought in heavy equipment.

The crash site was guarded by two cordon rings. The second ring was made when the looting began. They put out cadets from the police school, military, and firefighters. Valery Perfilyev recalls that many residents of the area considered it their duty to feed and warm those who worked at the site of the tragedy.

In almost 40 years of service, I have not seen such unity of the population with firefighters, with victims,” says the man. - It was an amazing phenomenon. Until the morning, older people stood with tea, offering everything, any services: to warm up at home, to feed, to drink, they brought socks, gloves, some grandmother there gave me white gloves, I said: “Where do I want the white ones?” I wanted to refuse, but she told me that I had to put it on right in front of her.

The black boxes of “Ruslan” were seriously damaged by fire, so they could not restore the full picture of the tragic events. Officially, the cause of engine failure was stated to be overloading of the aircraft, but over the years different versions have been put forward as to why the ship could have fallen. For example, there was an assumption that during takeoff one of the passengers made a call on a Chinese radiotelephone and this affected the operation of the equipment. There was also a version that the kerosene had a high water content, it froze, and the ice clogged the fuel filters.

House No. 45 on Grazhdanskaya Street was demolished immediately after the tragedy, along with the burnt-out wooden barracks. The orphanage was reconstructed in 1999, and a temple was built at the site of the plane crash. A capsule with memories of people who lost their relatives and friends in the disaster was placed at its base. Every year on December 6, a civil memorial service for the victims is held in the temple. Always at the same time - at 14:45.

Drop zone. Loud plane crashes with victims on the ground. The crash of "Ruslan". Ruslan plane crash 1997 will never be forgotten

The perpetrators have not been named

1992 A Boeing 747 cargo plane crashes into a residential complex in Amsterdam

1996 An An-32 plane crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa

1997 Cargo An-124 "Ruslan" fell on residential areas of Irkutsk

year 2000. Concorde crash near Paris

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