![“A commission to investigate this aviation disaster was set up by the Interstate Aviation Committee right after it was informed [of the crash] and has immediately started its work,” the committee said in a statement. - Sputnik International](https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/19437/25/194372567_0:0:0:0_600x0_80_0_0_15dce5ad3f746d07cfc6a65e824c117b.jpg "“A commission to investigate this aviation disaster was set up by the Interstate Aviation Committee right after it was informed [of the crash] and has immediately started its work,” the committee said in a statement.")
Updated 1:30 p.m. Moscow time
MOSCOW, October 21 (RIA Novosti) – The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK), an air disaster investigation authority of Russia and other ex-Soviet states, has set up a special commission to investigate Tuesday’s air crash in Vnukovo.
“A commission to investigate this aviation disaster was set up by the Interstate Aviation Committee right after it was informed [of the crash] and has immediately started its work,” the committee said in a statement.
“At the moment, the Interstate Aviation Committee has obtained the plane’s black boxes (a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder). The recorders are being taken to MAK’s technical research center,” the statement reads.
The committee said it had formally notified France about the crash and French experts will join the investigation soon.
The small business jet crashed late Monday night in the Vnukovo-3 Airport in Moscow after it hit a snow removal vehicle on takeoff. The plane was departing Moscow for Paris. French oil and gas giant Total CEO Christophe de Margerie was the only passenger on board the jet, alongside three crew members, all French citizens. All four died in the crash.
Russia’s Investigative Committee is considering two main theories as to the cause of the crash - a traffic control mistake and the actions of the snowplow driver. The investigators are also checking if the plane could have crashed due to bad weather conditions or a mistake by the pilot.
According to investigators, the driver of the snow removal vehicle was drunk at the time of incident. He has been hospitalized and is reportedly in serious condition.
It has also been revealed that the plane’s taxiing shortly before the crash was being coordinated by a traffic control intern, a Vnukovo source told RIA Novosti.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences over the deaths. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called the Total head’s passing “a big loss,” as he was “a friend and a partner” of Russia.
