Moscow (AsiaNews / Agencies) -
The chairman of the Board of Directors
of the French oil giant Total, Christophe de
Margerie, 63, has died following the crash of a
private Dassault Falcon 50
jet shortly after take-off from the Vnukovo airport in Moscow. The energy company has
confirmed the news: along with the top manager all three crew
members, all French citizens were
also killed.
According initial reports, on October 20around
midnight, the aircraft was taking off from the terminal Vnukovo-3 when it collided with a snowplow
and caught fire. The jet was headed to Paris.
Initially, there was talk of a fifth victim, the driver of the snowplow, but
this was later denied by the Investigative Committee, who say the man
driving "was in a state of intoxication." The jet burst into flames and rescue teams were unable
to save the people on board.
A criminal investigation was opened
into the incident for "breach
of security resulting in the death
of two or more people." The Vnukovo press
service said that the black boxes
have been removed from the crash site;
according to other sources, they are
"in good condition". Still unclear if the
vehicle was parked in a prohibited point of the runway or surprised
as it was crossing. Russian prosecutors say their French counterparts will be invited to collaborate in
investigations.
The head of the EU delegation in Russia, Vygaudas
Usackas, as reported by Interfax,
he has already sent his condolences to
the relatives of the victims saying
he was "saddened" by the incident.
According to Russian news agencies,
de Margerie was
in Russia on an
official visit. He was at Gorki,
just outside Moscow, yesterday for Prime
Minister Dmitri Medvedev's
meeting with the Foreign Investment Advisory Council (FIAC), which brings together
the major foreign investors in
the country.
Managing Director of Total since 2007 and its chairman
since 2010, the top manager had spoken out
repeatedly against the restrictive measures imposed
by the USA and EU on Moscow for the Ukrainian crisis and which have hit the energy
sector hard. Commenting on the partnership with Russian companies, after the introduction of sanctions, the CEO had assured that
the projects in the Federation would
not be changed and that the group
was in no hurry to leave the country.
In September, however, the
Financial Times reported the news of the
suspension of cooperation with Russia's
Lukoil, Total, in
western Siberia.
The French company has been present in
Russia since 1989 and is one of the leading foreign investors, but future projects were frozen following
the deterioration of relations between
Moscow and the West after the
demolition airliner Malaysian
eastern Ukraine .
According to remind the Russian media, de Margerie
in recent months has led an intense lobbying Paris
to unlock the delivery of the aircraft carrier Mistral to Russia blocked due
to sanctions and after strong pressure from the United States.