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Moscow Airport Managers Resign, More Suspects Detained Over Crash

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A video grab shows an investigator looking at the wreckage of Christophe de Margerie's jet at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on October 21.
A video grab shows an investigator looking at the wreckage of Christophe de Margerie's jet at Moscow's Vnukovo airport on October 21.

Top managers at a Moscow airport have resigned and four more airport workers have been detained over a plane crash that killed the chief executive of French oil giant Total.

Christophe de Margerie and three French crew members died when a corporate jet collided with a snow-removal machine at Vnukovo Airport late on October 20.

The Investigative Committee said on October 23 that prosecutors had detained an air-traffic controller intern, her supervisor, the head of air-traffic controllers, and the chief of runway cleaning.

Meanwhile, the airport announced the resigntion of its director-general, Andrei Dyakov, and his deputy, Sergei Solntsev.

And a Moscow court ordered that the snowplough driver, who was detained immediately after the accident, remain in custody until December 21.

The driver says he has lost his bearings before the collision and that he was unaware he had entered the runway.

Investigators have alleged that he was drunk at the time, but his family and lawyer have denied this.

Based on reporting by Reuters, Interfax, and TASS

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