Death of leadership of Ministry of Internal Affairs in Brovary: Officials of State Emergency Service were notified of suspicion of violation of safety rules and official negligence. VIDEO&PHOTOS
Officials of the State Emergency Service were served with a notice of suspicion over the plane crash in Brovary, which killed the Interior Ministry’s top officials.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office.
For example, officials of the SES Aviation Department and a special aviation detachment of the Civil Protection Operational Rescue Service are charged with violating flight safety rules (air traffic safety), which caused the death of people and extensive material damage (part 3 of Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The head of the flight safety service of the same unit was notified of suspicion of official negligence that caused grave consequences (Article 367(2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The Prosecutor General's Office explained that the officials had committed blatant violations of traffic safety and air transport operation rules, which led to the deaths of people. During the pre-trial investigation, the day of the crash was reconstructed minute by minute, including the decoding of the black boxes.
"In January 2023, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine was scheduled to visit Kharkiv and Dnipro regions. Despite the warnings of internal instructions and legal requirements, SES officials used a helicopter that was on duty to respond to potential emergencies in Kyiv and the region to transport the delegation. The aircraft had no permits for other types of flights.
During the preparation for the flight, the crew commander was not informed of the meteorological data along the entire route of the planned movement, in particular, of the extremely unfavourable weather conditions over the city of Brovary. The crew itself did not have the appropriate permits to fly in difficult weather conditions and the necessary certificates. However, none of the officials responsible for flight safety cancelled or postponed the flight until favourable weather conditions arrived," the statement said.
The helicopter crew was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude due to the difficult weather conditions - even lower than the height of the buildings on the route. The crew commander saw an obstacle and began to perform a circling manoeuvre, but he abruptly climbed upwards. He lost his orientation in space and collided with the ground at the end of the manoeuvre due to a lack of skills, they added.
"When the helicopter crashed, it damaged the kindergarten, neighbouring buildings and parked cars. In addition to senior Interior Ministry officials, the crash killed four women and a young child who had just arrived at the kindergarten. 31 people, including 13 children, sustained injuries of varying severity.
Among the suspects are the head of the Aviation and Aviation Search and Rescue Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the acting commander of the unit, the deputy commander for flight training, the commander of the aviation squadron, and the head of the flight safety service of the Special Aviation Detachment of the Civil Protection Operational and Rescue Service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine from Nizhyn, Chernihiv region.
The issue of choosing a measure of restraint for the suspects is currently being decided," the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office summed up.
According to the SBI, 5 SES officials were notified of suspicion:
Head of the Aviation and Air Search and Rescue Department of the SES of Ukraine,
the acting commander of the unit;
deputy commander for flight training;
Aviation squadron commander;
Head of the Flight Safety Service of the Special Aviation Detachment of the Civil Protection Operational and Rescue Service of the SES of Ukraine from Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast.
On the morning of 18 January, an aircraft crashed into a social infrastructure facility in Brovary. Later it became known that the helicopter had crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building.
Later, it became known that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had been killed in the crash. According to updated information, after identification, 14 dead people were found at the crash site, including 1 child and 9 people on board. Twenty-five people were injured.
