In the case of the investigation into the death of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in a plane crash in January 2023, 5 officials of the State Emergency Service were served with suspicion, they are accused of violating the rules of flight safety, which caused the death of people and great material damage, and official negligence, which caused serious consequences. This is stated in the message of the Prosecutor General's Office, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"Under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office, five officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine were served with suspicion. Officials of the Aviation Department of the State Emergency Service and the special aviation detachment of the operational and rescue service of the civil defense are accused of violating the rules of flight safety (air traffic safety), which caused the death of people and great material damage (Part 3 of Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The head of the flight security service of the same detachment was served with suspicion of official negligence, which caused serious consequences (Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," the message reads.
Among the suspects are the head of the Department of Aviation and Aviation Search and Rescue of the State Emergency Service, acting unit commander, deputy commander for flight training, aviation squadron commander, head of the flight safety service of the Special Aviation Detachment of the Operational Rescue Service of the Civil Protection Service of the State Emergency Service from the city of Nizhyn, Chernihiv Region.
At present, the issue of choosing preventive measures for the suspects is being resolved. The pre-trial investigation is carried out by investigators of the Main Investigative Departments of the State Bureau of Investigation and the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to the investigation, the officials committed flagrant violations of the rules of traffic safety and operation of air transport, which led to the death of people. In the course of the pre-trial investigation, the day of the accident was reconstructed minute by minute, including the decryption of the data recorders.
The message states that in January 2023, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine was scheduled to visit the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk Regions, despite the caveat of internal instructions and legal requirements, officials of the State Emergency Service involved a helicopter to transport the delegation, which was on duty to respond to potential emergency situations in Kyiv and the region. The aircraft did not have permits for other types of flights.
The investigation revealed that during preparation for the flight, the crew commander was not informed about meteorological data along the entire route of the planned movement, in particular about extremely unfavorable weather conditions over the city of Brovary, the crew itself did not have appropriate permits for flights in difficult weather conditions and the necessary certificates, but none of officials responsible for flight safety did not cancel it and did not postpone the departure until the arrival of favorable weather conditions.
"Due to difficult weather conditions, the helicopter crew was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude - even lower than the height of the buildings on the route. The crew commander saw an obstacle and began to perform a go-around maneuver, but rose sharply. He lost orientation in space and during the completion the maneuver allowed a collision with the ground due to the lack of necessary skills," the report says.
When the helicopter fell, it damaged a kindergarten, nearby buildings and parked cars.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on January 18, a Eurocopter EC225 helicopter of the State Emergency Service crashed on the territory of a kindergarten in Brovary, Kyiv Region.
In addition to the crew members, there were Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi, First Deputy Minister Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych on board. As a result of the plane crash, 14 people were killed, including 1 child and 10 people on board the helicopter, 31 people were injured, including 13 children.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs allowed the leadership to travel only in cars until the completion of the investigation into the helicopter crash in Brovary, where the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were killed.
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