CEO Of Oil Company Total Dies In Plane Crash

Christophe de Margerie, the Chairman and CEO of giant oil company, Total, died in plane crash last night October 20th in Russia. He was 63.

According to a statement released by airport authorities early this morning, de Margerie's private plane collided with a snowplow on the runway of Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow as it was accelerating for takeoff just a few minutes before midnight. They also said in the statement that the driver of the snowplow was intoxicated. The business jet's three crew members also died.

The chief executive who was based in Paris, France had gone t to Russia to attend a meeting of corporate executives with Prime Minister Dmitri A. Medvedev and was returning to Paris when the accident occurred. He is survived by a wife and children.


However, Russian investigators have said "criminal negligence" caused the crash at a Moscow airport that resulted in the death of Total's chief executive.

Christophe de Margerie died along with three crew members when his corporate jet collided with a snow plough.
Federal investigators said that the driver of the snow plough was drunk.
Investigators also said that "negligent" managers at the airport had failed to co-ordinate the actions of their employees.
The Investigations Committee of Russia, a federal agency which answers to President Vladimir Putin, is investigating the crash.
"It is already obvious that the cause of the events was not at all a horrific tragic confluence of circumstances, which is how representatives of the airport are trying to present it, but criminal negligence by officials who could not ensure the coordinated actions of airport employees," said committee spokesman Vladimir Markin.
Several officials at the airport were likely to be suspended, according to Mr Markin.