Superjet crash: Prosecutor to consider the case against the captain

The Aeroflot captain indicted over last year’s fatal Sukhoi Superjet 100 landing accident at Moscow Sheremetyevo is to have the case considered by Russia’s prosecutor general.

The federal Investigative Committee said its criminal probe into the 5th May 2019 accident where the Superjet returned to the airport after a lightning strike, has been completed.

Aeroflot Flight 1492 was a scheduled passenger flight from Moscow–Sheremetyevo to Murmansk, Russia. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft operating the flight was climbing out, and then it was struck by lightning. The aircraft suffered an electrical failure and returned to Sheremetyevo to make an emergency landing.

The aircraft bounced on touchdown, which resulted in a collapse of the landing gear and fire that engulfed the fuselage. Passengers quickly began to evacuate through the forward doors as the aircraft came to rest. Of the 78 occupants on board, only 37 survived the inferno.

The Investigative Committee said “sufficient evidence” has been collected in the case, and has forwarded the information to the prosecutor general, who will decide on the proceedings of the indictment.