A snowplow driver who's been blamed by Russian authorities for a plane crash that killed the chief executive of the oil company Total has been sent to pre-trial detention, his lawyer said Thursday.
Snowplow driver Vladimir Martynenko has denied claims by Russian officials that he was drunk at the time of the crash Monday at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport.
Total CEO Christophe de Margerie and three others were killed after his plane hit the snowplow during takeoff and crashed.
Four other airport employees have also been detained in connection with the crash, a Russian investigative committee said earlier.
They are: the airport service chief engineer, Vladimir Ledenev, who's in charge of snow-clearing operations; flights director Roman Dunayev; air traffic controller Svetlana Krivsun; and the airport's chief air traffic controller, Alexander Kruglov.
"Investigators believe the detained persons failed to provide safety requirements concerning flights and on-ground works and it led to the tragedy," a statement from the investigative committee said. "They have been detained and questioned as suspects in the case."
Amid the fallout from the incident, the airport's director general, Andrei Dyakov, and deputy director general Sergei Solntsev have resigned, the airport said in a statement Thursday. Their resignations have been accepted.
The airport's shift director, the head of the airport's maintenance division and the leading engineer who heads the shift have been suspended from duties.
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Martynenko's lawyer, Aleksandr Karabanov, told the reporters that a court decided Thursday to place him in detention.
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