×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Search on for recorders of crashed plane

Prez calls for changes in Russias troubled air transport industry
Last Updated 04 May 2018, 03:13 IST

The Wednesday crash, which killed 36 players, coaches and staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team, drew new attention to the poor safety air records of Russia and some other former Soviet republics. Experts blame the age of the aircraft, weak government controls, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality.

Investigators could not immediately pinpoint the cause of the crash of the Yak-42 jet on to the banks of the Volga River shortly after takeoff from Yaroslavl, 240 km northeast of Moscow.

Workers laboured Thursday to raise the plane’s shattered tail section, where one of the plane’s on-board recorders is, Russian news agencies quoted Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.

The plane crashed on the opening day of an international forum in Yaroslavl that was to showcase Yaroslavl as a modern and vibrant city.

Medvedev lay flowers at the crash site and met with officials, and later opened his speech at the forum by calling for a moment of silence to commemorate the victims.
“The number of air companies should be radically reduced and it’s necessary to do this within the shortest time,” Medvedev said in comments at the meeting broadcast on Russian television.

It was not immediately clear what measures the government could take to cut the number of air carriers, many of which are small, regional operations of uncertain financial health. Transport Minister Igor Levitin told Medvedev that there are about 130 air carriers throughout Russia, but that 85 per cent of passengers are carried by just 10 companies.

On Thursday morning, hundreds of local residents gathered at the city’s Russian Orthodox cathedral to mourn the victims. Many of them wore team scarves, some of the women using them to cover their heads as church ritual requires. The crashed jet was built in 1993 and one of its three engines was replaced a month ago, Deputy Transport Minister Valery Okulov told Russian media on Thursday.

It is unclear whether technical failure played a role in the crash.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 08 September 2011, 05:02 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT