Five high-ranking officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine have been questioned as suspects after investigators analyzed the black box of the helicopter that crashed on January 18 and reconstructed the circumstances of the accident.
Among the suspects are the head of the department of the State Scientific and Rescue Aviation of the Service, the acting commander of the unit, the deputy for pilot training, the commander of the flight squadron, the head of the flight safety service of the special aviation squadron. .
The investigative materials established that officials did not comply with safety standards and rules for the operation of air transport, which ultimately led to an accident with 18 casualties.
In January 2023, a visit of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions is planned. According to the rules, the used aircraft was in operation in the Kyiv region and did not have a license for other types of flights.
During the flight, the crew commander was not informed about adverse weather conditions over Brovary, moreover the pilots who flew the aircraft did not have any licenses or certificates.
Difficult weather conditions forced helicopter pilots to fly extremely low, due to which they saw the tall building too late.
As a result, they lost control of the steeply taking off helicopter, so it crashed to the ground near the kindergarten.
The plane crash killed the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monsatyrsky, his deputy and Secretary of State, as well as 6 other passengers of the plane.
Defendants can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
The cover shows the remains of a crashed helicopter. Cover Source: Kyodo News via Getty Images.