There were 25 children on board the Kogalymavia plane, including Nastya Sheina.
Yesterday in Egypt, in the crash of a plane belonging to the Kogalym Avia company (MetroJet), 224 of our compatriots were killed ... Approximately every tenth of them is a child ... The youngest girl Darina was only 10 months old ... Before taking off, posting this photo to the network, young parents called her "the main passenger".
I watch the news while abroad on the Russia Today channel. Tears come to my eyes and it is absolutely impossible not to take this to heart ... My daughter turned 10 months old in 2014when my whole family and her four-year-old brother went to travel to Asia... For three months my children and I made 6 flights. Some flights lasted about 10 hours, some less than an hour. And we also considered her the "main passenger". On every flight, our daughter was the smallest ...
Someone on this fateful journey to Egypt was abroad for the first time, someone proposed to his beloved, someone flew with the whole family with three children. All these children had their whole life ahead and they could see the whole World. But their journey ended in the skies over Egypt.
It is especially scary to realize that the crash did not occur during takeoff or landing, not in a few seconds, as is usually the case ... The plane fell from a height of 10 kilometers. How did the children and the parents of these children feel? I dont know. My son and daughter, who is now two years old, have just woken up. She sits on my lap, and our third five-month-old baby is sleeping in his wife's arms. And I'm scared to even think about what the passengers of the ill-fated Flight 9268 felt when their plane crashed.
My wife is very afraid of flying, but the passion for travel is stronger! For us, the 24 countries we visited are not the end, but only the beginning.
And you yourself seem to understand that after this event you will not stop traveling. Reason suggests that there are many times more chances of dying without traveling at all - in your own car, minibus, on a bicycle or on a pedestrian crossing ...
But you are sitting on your lap with your daughter, looking at a photograph of a ten-month-old girl on the monitor, and tears come to your eyes.
Our sincere condolences to the family and friends of all those who did not return home. Hold on, no matter how difficult it is! The rest are very eager to wish ... Love each other every second of your life, not paying attention to various minor troubles! And keep traveling no matter what!
P.S. Another mixed feeling of anger and misunderstanding is troubling. Literally three days earlier, a very worthy airline "Transaero" finally ceased to exist in Russia. In 2015, Transaero was the safest air carrier in Russia and 17th in this indicator in the world ... And while the bankruptcy of Transaero looks more like a raider seizure of its main competitor Aeroflot, we all have to fly on the more expensive Aeroflot or cheap "charters" like "KogalymAvia"? Although, the cause of the disaster remains to be seen ... Again, speaking of the advantages of independent travel ... When you travel on your own, you choose the airline yourself. Most tour operators send tourists with cheap "charters" in order to save money.
P.S. We came across a poem for this photo on a social network. The author, unfortunately, is not signed (if anyone knows, write in the comments). Dedicated to Darina Gromova:
When adults die through someone's fault, it is a terrible tragedy. If children die for the same reason, then this is a double tragedy!
The tragic story of one family
A girl at the age of ten months from the Leningrad region flew with her parents to Egypt at sea. In her father's arms, she swayed on the Mediterranean waves, soaked in the sun.
Darina Gromova is the main passenger of the tragic flight. Photo from the page of her mother on the social network.
While returning home, the girl died in a plane crash along with her father and mother and other passengers on the plane. There were no less Darina on that flight among the nearly three dozen children. Her parents, Aleksey and Tatyana Gromov, worked in the same prosperous company. It was a nice young family.
At the Pulkovo airport, my mother took a picture of her daughter, looking at the planes through the airport window. And she posted a photo on social networks under the title: "The main passenger." Now this snapshot of Darina Gromova, still alive, has spread all over the world.
On the Internet, Darina is called the main passenger of the tragic flight. The baby's grandmother, as she felt trouble, asked the children to leave her granddaughter with her. But they did not listen.
How did it happen?
On October 31, 2015 over the Sinai Peninsula there was a disaster of an Airbus А321-231 of a Siberian airline. It was chartered by the Briscoe travel agency for the international charter flight 7K-9268 "St. Petersburg - Sharm El Sheikh - St. Petersburg". On it from Egypt tourists returned home, having a rest on the Mediterranean coast.
Within twenty minutes, the autopilot lifted the liner to an altitude of ten kilometers. From there, he immediately began to fall vertically at a breakneck speed of 1.8 km / minute. That is, it took 5.5 minutes to fall to the ground. During this time, the pilots requested a landing. But it was more than 50 kilometers to the landing strip.
There were reports on the network that there was an explosion in the tail of the plane. They even named the name of the person who brought the explosives on board and placed them in the "tail" of the liner. This was later confirmed by the layout of the ship's remains. The disaster claimed the lives of 224 people (including the death of the entire crew). Initially, there were several versions, in particular, a technical problem or a human factor. The main version was a terrorist act.
The group ISIS, an organization banned in Russia, wrote it down on its bloody account. As always in such cases, the perpetrators were not punished. The Kremlin has assured that those involved in the death of the plane's passengers will be searched indefinitely and the perpetrators will be punished.
This is the biggest disaster of Russian passenger aircraft. There was no such tragedy in the history of Egypt or in this series of Airbus. Flights to this African country from the Russian Federation were stopped for a long time, which hurt Egypt's tourism. Flights have recently resumed after the Russian side was convinced of the safety of local airports. This work is still in progress.
Terrorist attack or equipment malfunction?
The Egyptians stubbornly do not recognize the cause of the disaster as a terrorist attack. The transport ministry of this country assured that the final conclusions would be made quickly. But in the conclusions, there is still no word about the terrorist attack. So trust them!
For the first time in two years, Elena Alekseevna Gromova, the grandmother of the "main passenger", decided to give an interview. After the tragedy, she did not find the strength to go to work and retired. The only thing that now distracts from those memories is social activities and the expectation of the results of the investigation.
We met at the Museum for Friends cafe in Pushkin. Literally across the road, in the shade of trees, stands the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium, where Alexei Gromov graduated from middle school.
WILL NOT BE IN THE PAST
My husband is a military pilot, a retired aviation colonel, - Elena Gromova tells the story of the family. - We often had to move from place to place. Children were born in garrisons. Alexey was born in the Far East.
In 1997, when her husband's service came to an end, they transferred to Pushkin. When Lesha finished nine classes, we moved to Gatchina - they gave us an apartment there.
So Alexey graduated from the 10-11th grades there, at a school with a physics and mathematics bias. Studying was easy for my son, he did not need to be controlled. He himself understood what he needed. And in the 11th grade, Alexey had already made his choice: he signed up for courses at Voenmekh. He chose the Faculty of Information Systems and Technology. The competition was crazy, but he passed physics and mathematics perfectly. He had ten points out of ten. And Lesha graduated from school as a student. It was such a joy - he fulfilled his dream. The strongest university, also budget education.
This is how he is, our Lesha. If he has a goal, he achieves it. He sees no obstacles in front of him. Sociable, open-minded. All our friends adored him.
I do not want to say "was" about him, he will not be in the past, while we are.
LOVE AFFAIR AT WORK
Alexei Gromov was only 27 years old. Daughter-in-law Tatyana on December 9 would have turned the same. It was a beautiful office romance. The couple met at work in 2012. Tatiana, a native of Togliatti, worked for a large company in St. Petersburg - she organized forums and conferences. Alexey worked in the IT department.
Tanya was a very talented, purposeful, creative girl. She graduated from INZHEKON, spoke foreign languages, they say about such people: talent is talent in everything. She used to do gymnastics, sew, embroider, draw. Gushing energy. So many thoughts, so many ideas in my head. Everything that she undertook was easy for her. A kind girl. She and Lesha looked very natural and organic, - says Elena Gromova. “I remember the first time he brought her home. They came in with smiles on their faces. It was clear: yes, this is love. As if the puzzles came together. This rarely happens.
They got married in August 2014. Alexey made an offer to his beloved in the sky. Especially for this I rented a plane with an instructor.
Soon after the wedding, Tanya and Lesha had a daughter, the couple was very much looking forward to her.
Mom called Darina a princess. Parents doted on their daughter and dreamed of a second child.
The baby took a prize at one of the children's contests “How I spent my summer”. This was her first prize: a diploma, a bouquet ... We all went to receive this gift, - says Elena Gromova. - Darina is a charming, intelligent, mischievous, inquisitive girl. Everyone's favorite.
Before the flight to Sharm el-Sheikh, my mother took a picture of the baby in Pulkovo and signed: "the main passenger." So Darina became an unspoken symbol of the tragedy - the main, the smallest passenger of flight 9268. When the tragedy struck, the baby was only ten months old.
THIS CANNOT BE ACCEPTED BY ANYONE
I remember the events of October 31 as yesterday. This is such a pain - a pain of a universal scale. I lost half of my family, - says Elena Gromova. “Nobody could accept that. All of the family's friends took it too close. One almost committed suicide, the other ended up in intensive care ...
In the evening before the flight from Egypt, Lesha called. You could hear from his voice that he was pleased, - recalls Elena Gromova. - He said that Darishka liked everything very much. That's all, he says, I'll tell you tomorrow. And he specified the arrival time.
Lesha's parents left for the airport in advance. On the way, we stopped at a grocery store - it was necessary to feed the travelers from the road.
Usually I get up in the morning, turn on the TV, go to the Internet. And we didn't do any of that that morning. That was the strangeness of this day. Although by that time everything was already known ... We did not see them for two weeks, we missed them. So there was only one plan for the day: to meet the children, - Elena Gromova sighs heavily. - We left early to stop by the store. It was necessary to bring them in, help with lunch, so that they would not be loaded after the vacation, and had a rest from the road.
And when we were driving to Pulkovo, the eldest son called my husband. And Lesha's friends told him ... My husband then barely kept the steering wheel, military endurance helped, probably. Still, we drove with the hope that this was nonsense.
When we arrived at the airport, there were not so many people there yet. And this red line on the scoreboard that the flight was delayed ... And in the information desk they said that there was no information. For an explanation, we were offered to drive from Pulkovo to the hotel. There were some people, there were psychologists, but there was no need for them at that time.
I don't know how to explain my condition. We found ourselves in the ashes. Some kind of surreality, as if all this was not happening to us. It was just a shock. And now the shock has passed, only pain remains.
We went through all the horror of the hell that our children had to experience. We went to the identification. We saw them in the morgue.
THE SKY DID NOT FORGIVE
You know, I think that heaven has not forgiven us. Lesha was also a reserve officer, and after Voenmekh he wanted to fly to Kamchatka, - says Elena Gromova. - But I didn’t. I wanted him to be near ...
But the parents tried to dissuade the young from vacation in Egypt.
Lesha, Syria is there. Go to Cyprus, the head of the family advised. But in Egypt, the sea seemed warmer and the sun brighter. The child wanted to please. When they flew away, strange things happened to my father: he lost the key, then for no reason fell ill with a fever for two days.
The last family meeting of the male half was in September of that year. The boys and her husband went to pick mushrooms and go fishing. Then my husband told me that he felt something ... Lesha then hugged him and said: “Dad, you just don't get old! You and I will do such things. "
Lesha had good prospects: upon returning from vacation, an order for a promotion awaited him at work.
Our son was brought up in the spirit of statehood. Reserve officer. He studied at the budgetary department. It is very painful and offensive when the country loses such people. And the state is obliged to make sure that the crime is solved. It may take some time, but this is a crime without a statute of limitations.
REFERENCE
The Gromovs occupied the 9th row, places D, E, F. Rescuers managed to find a 10-month-old baby only a few days after the plane crash. She was brought as a second plane - with those who could somehow be identified without the help of DNA. The bodies of Lesha and Tanya were delivered much later. The whole family was buried a day to forty days after the crash of the liner.
Information about those killed in the plane crash over Egypt appears on the Internet. The ill-fated flight collected dozens of beautiful love stories and amazing human destinies.
Darina looks at the runway, the Russia 24 TV channel reports. Small palms, fingers spread out, are pressed against the glass. "The main passenger", - mother Tatiana signs the photo of her daughter with tenderness. This will be the first flight in her life. On October 15, the Gromov family left Pulkovo airport for Egypt. Alexey and Tanya got married a year ago - in July they celebrated a "chintz" wedding. They stayed in Sharm el-Sheikh for two weeks, celebrating Darina's 10 months. Her photograph has already become a symbol of this tragedy.
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Children and parents, brothers and sisters, friends and work colleagues were expected here. Irina came to meet her friends. At the beginning of the week, they basked together in the sun. She was supposed to fly the same flight, but her husband persuaded to return home a few days earlier. Yulia Kazantseva managed to avoid the tragedy in the same way.
Psychologists now work with loved ones of passengers on the Sharm el Sheikh - St. Petersburg flight.
On board, along with the passengers, there were also seven crew members: two pilots and five flight attendants. Colleagues spoke of them as responsible and executive employees. Valery Nemov was the captain of the aircraft; he had more than 12 thousand flight hours on his account. Kogalymavia denies his possible guilt in the crash of the liner.
"This person is certainly experienced, certainly respected, certainly a very honored pilot. We have no reason to assume that this was some kind of mistake on the part of the air crew," said Oksana Golovina, partner of THC.
At the moment, 150 bodies have already been removed from the rubble. Some of them have already been sent to Cairo to the city morgue. The special board of the Ministry of Emergency Situations flew to Egypt. Russian rescuers will also take part in the operation at the crash site.
The north wind brutally flutters the mourning ribbons. A young woman, buckling under the yoke of the elements, is trying to light a lamp. Sits on the ground, blowing on frozen hands.
Those who came to the Kuzminskoye cemetery to say goodbye to the passenger of the blown up flight Olga Pavlova, could no longer cry, for forty days the tears dried up.
A lump came to my throat only at the sight of Olga's mother. The elderly woman seemed quite small from her back. Squeezing her shoulders, her mother did not even cry, she screamed in grief. Only the wind carried her cry over the graves.
It's so scary to bury your children, - friends whispered and hugged the woman by the shoulders.
Olga Pavlova was 42 years old, in Sharm el-Sheikh, a resident of the Leningrad region was vacationing with a friend. They found her only thanks to the DNA identification procedure.
And now there are orphaned relatives, - the old woman who sells flowers brushes away a tear from the cold. Here she seemed to have seen enough on the mountain, but how can one remain indifferent. - Yesterday, a young family was buried here.
SYMBOL OF TRAGEDY
The graves of the Thunders are still quite fresh, strewn with flowers, wreaths and soft toys. They are right next door to Olga Pavlova.
The administration of St. Petersburg specially ordered this vacant lot near the entrance, say the workers of the cemetery. “We can't bury anyone else here except the victims of the plane crash.
Alexey, Tatiana and between them little Darina. The “most important” passenger of flight 9268. The photograph of Darina taken by her mother before the flight became an unofficial symbol of the tragedy. On social networks, people make collages with a picture of a baby who looks out of the terminal window at the planes, and dedicate poems to her.
And on December 26, Darina would have turned a year. But on the funeral cross, the counter stopped on October 31 - the most terrible date in the modern history of St. Petersburg.
Farewell to the Gromov family took place in the Resurrection Church two days to forty days after the tragedy. Relatives and friends closed themselves off from communicating with journalists, and only relatives knew: the family was identified by DNA and was about to be buried. Two hundred people came to the cemetery.
There were a lot of young people, - the old woman with flowers recalls. - They themselves are very young.
LOVE AFFAIR AT WORK
Alyosha was only 27. And Tanya, here's a cruel mockery of fate, on December 9 would have turned 27. The couple met at work. Tatiana Gromova, a native of Togliatti, worked for a large company in St. Petersburg, organizing forums and conferences. Alexey worked in the IT department. We got married a little over a year ago - the year before last. Soon after the wedding, Tanya and Alexei had a daughter, the couple was very much looking forward to her.
Mom called Darina a princess. The girl was dressed up like a doll. From the moment the child was born, Tatyana did not part with her for a minute. So on vacation, young parents took the baby with them.
The Gromovs occupied row 9, places D, E, F. Rescuers managed to find a 10-month-old baby only a few days after the plane crash. Darina's grandmother did not identify her granddaughter's body and agreed to a DNA examination.
FIRST PERSON
Elena GROMOVA, Darina's grandmother:
To son
“When you were little, for some reason you asked me:“ Mommy, is it difficult to raise children? ”I don’t know then where you got this question from. I answered:“ No, son, you just need to love them ” ...
And you knew that I loved you immensely! And now this love has been taken away from me! But I still continue to love you very much! And no one will dare to rip this feeling out of my mother's heart! "
To granddaughter
"My angel! We have waited so long for your appearance on this Earth. We were incredibly happy that we had you. You grew up, we rejoiced at all your achievements and successes, you pleased us with your mischievous laughter and wonderful grimaces. Do not fly away from us, because the angels are always there, we need you very, very much. We love you immensely, be always with us. "
