58 bodies have already been identified
The fourth day of the procedure for identifying victims of the plane crash has come to an end.
58 dead have been identified.
The remaining bodies are not subject to visual identification. Relatives of the victims will have to wait for the results of a genetic examination, which can last up to 4 months.
According to experts, there is a high probability that the bodies of some of the victims will never be identified.
We contacted Alexander Voitenko. In the plane crash, he lost his 37-year-old sister Irina and 14-year-old niece Alisa. He was only able to identify his niece.
My sister Irina and her daughter Alisa planned a trip to Egypt a month in advance,” Alexander began. - My niece flew on an airplane for the first time. The first and last... When the plane crash was announced on TV, I immediately rushed to Pulkovo airport. The next day my mother flew in from Pskov. We don’t have a dad; he died 5 years ago from cancer. Mom was accommodated in a hotel along with other relatives of the victims. Over these days, we have become closer to people who have lost their loved ones. I won’t say that we became friends, but we supported each other. Some were helped in any way they could.
- What for example?
I met the mother of the deceased 23-year-old Yulia Krasnova. The woman was not very good with the Internet, and asked me to find her daughter’s social network page to see photos. I had close contact with people from Ukraine who are now in bewilderment. They don’t understand how to transport the body of the deceased, because there is no air service between Ukraine and Ukraine.
- How did the identification go?
There were 5-6 families in the morgue at the same time. Psychologists worked with everyone. It took a lot of time to fill out the documents - probably two hours. The identification itself went quickly. At the morgue, experts showed bodies that could be visually identified and were not severely burned. On the first and second days, my mother and I gave a very detailed description of the appearance of our relatives, down to scars, clothing items, piercings, tattoos, and so on. Everything was drawn on a special piece of paper. They described our relatives in sufficient detail. And on Tuesday our Alice was identified. Identification was difficult: at first we were shown photographs, some small fragments of the body, from which we could identify the person. If the relatives were ready to look more, they showed the bodies.
- It turns out that there are practically no intact bodies left?
They showed those bodies that were not severely disfigured. Most of the bodies were severely mutilated; it was impossible to recognize a person from them. Many people, when shown dead people who fit their description, did not recognize their loved ones. They will now wait for DNA testing.
- How long will the DNA examination take?
We were promised to announce the results of the examination within three weeks. Let's see...
- Are you afraid of not finding your sister?
This is the worst thing that can happen.
- Have you been told that there is a possibility of not finding your loved ones at all?
They didn’t tell us about this directly, but they hinted that there was a possibility that nothing would be found. Everyone is afraid of this.
- How did you identify Alice? By what signs?
They say it's easier to find children. We identified Alice by her clothes, earring, scar on her hand, and hair. Even her face could still be identified, despite the terrible injuries. Perhaps the children suffered less. I hope so.
- Was the cause of her death announced to you?
Multiple injuries of internal organs, traumatic brain injuries. A lot of everything. To be honest, I don't remember.
- Are the belongings of the victims being given out?
We were only shown the clothes Alice wore on the flight. Other things were not given to anyone. They are probably with the investigators now.
- Did the identification take place until late at night?
We left there on Tuesday at 10 pm, there were still people there. Forensic experts and psychologists worked until midnight.
- How did the relatives withstand this procedure?
It was hard for everyone. Believe me, this is probably the most difficult day of my life. But I had to hold on, I had no other choice.
- When will Alice be buried?
On Wednesday her body was sent to Pskov. The funeral is planned for Saturday.
As far as I know, the relatives of the victims were offered to create a common memorial and bury all those killed in the plane crash in one place?
We've been asked about this. But almost all the relatives of the victims opposed it.
- Did they give you money for the funeral?
We received 100 thousand rubles from the insurance company for the funeral. This money goes towards 2 million. To receive basic compensation, you need to collect a bunch of documents. This may take a couple of months. Experts say this is the normal order of things. But people who are in a state of shock cannot waste time and effort collecting a package of documents. After all, we were promised some kind of compensation from the city. But so far I don’t understand what is needed for this.
- Relatives asked for a seating plan for passengers on the plane. For what?
We asked for seating arrangements from the very beginning. It seemed to us that in one or another part of the cabin people had a chance to survive... We were wrong...
A motley crowd of tourists, a vibrant underwater world that attracts divers from all over the world - all this attracts travelers. Russians were eager to go there as if they were going to a second dacha: at least a week to rest from work and bask in the sun. Whole families flew until the plane crash in Egypt on October 31, 2015 forced the entire country to shudder.
Tragic accident
A tourist group from the Brisco company was returning on a charter flight from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. Despite the early morning (departure at 5.50 local time), the passengers were in excellent spirits. They posted pictures of their successful vacation on social networks. It was Saturday, and on Monday many had to plunge into work; some had work, others had to study.
The Airbus A321-231 EI-ETJ airliner, which arrived from Samara, took 217 passengers on board. They and seven crew members had to be in the Northern capital by 12 noon, where many had relatives and friends waiting at the airport. Having reached a given altitude of 9400 meters in 23 minutes, at a speed of 520 km/h the aircraft suddenly disappeared from the radar. At 6.15 (7.15 Moscow) the plane crashed in the Sinai Peninsula near El-Arish airport - the hottest spot in Egypt, where government troops were confronted by Al-Qaeda Islamists.
Versions of the tragedy
Those meeting flight 9268 at Pulkovo Airport anxiously watched the board, which displayed the information: “Arrival delayed.” And by evening, the whole country knew that the wreckage of the aircraft that had disappeared from radar had been discovered by the Egyptian authorities. Scattered over a length of 13 kilometers, with the tail section torn off, they were shown on television, which gave rise to many versions of experts about the possible causes of the disaster. Three were considered the most reliable:
- Technical problems associated either with engine failure or metal fatigue. In the tail section, traces of skin repairs were found after the aircraft touched the asphalt with its tail while landing at Cairo airport in 2001. The resulting microcrack could cause the destruction of the aircraft as it climbed.
- The plane crash in Egypt was caused by the crew's mistakes.
- Terrorist act.
The IAC commission, headed by Egyptian representative Ayman al-Mukkadam, began working at the site of the tragedy. It included representatives of Russia, France, Germany, the USA and Ireland. After studying the evidence and decoding, the first two versions were found unfounded.
Aircraft
The A321 crash over the Sinai Peninsula was the largest in the history of Egypt and modern Russia. The airbus belonged to the Kogalymavia company, which underwent a thorough inspection. It was found that after the 2001 emergency, the aircraft was repaired in France at the manufacturer's plant, after which all the necessary tests were carried out. Over 18 years of operation, the airliner flew less than 50% of its service life (57,428 hours) and was in good condition. This is evidenced by weekly technical checks, the last of which was carried out on October 26, 2015. The flight recorders did not detect any system malfunction. Until the 23rd minute, the flight proceeded quite normally.
Crew
Forty-eight-year-old crew commander Valery Nemov is a graduate of SVAAULSH (Stavropol Military School). He is one of the few who, in the difficult 90s, retrained to fly on Airbuses since 2008, having 12 thousand flight hours, which testifies to his enormous experience. The second pilot also came from military aviation, being a veteran of the Chechen campaign. After retiring, Sergei Trukhachev retrained on the A321, having undergone training in the Czech Republic. I flew them for more than 2 years. The total flight time was 6 thousand hours. Both pilots were in good standing with their airline. Nemov was even called back from vacation prematurely to be sent on the infamous flight 9268.
Official version
Two weeks after the tragedy, the version of the terrorist attack was officially voiced by the head of the FSB during a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation. To support his words, he provided the following evidence:
- American satellites recorded a thermal flash over Sinai during the disaster, which indicates an explosion occurred on board the plane.
- The fuselage fragment has a hole with a diameter of about one meter. Its edges are curved outward. This indicates that the source of the explosion was inside.
- When decoding the recorder recording the negotiations, before the recording is interrupted, extraneous noise is heard, the nature of which can be attributed to a blast wave.
- The plane crash in Egypt caused great public outcry. After a while, they not only admitted responsibility for the terrorist attack, but also posted a photo of an improvised explosive device (IED) on the pages of Dabig magazine.
- Some of the victims had injuries indicating death from the consequences of the explosion (burns, tissue ruptures).
- Traces of explosives - TNT molecules - were found in fragments of shrapnel, luggage and on the bodies of the victims.
The power of the explosion was estimated at 1 kilogram. The estimated location of the IED is the tail of the aircraft. For the blast wave moved forward, but the fracture of the fuselage prevented its further advancement.
Plane crash in Egypt: who is to blame?
After the Russian version appeared, it became known that 17 employees were detained at the Egyptian airport. The main question was one: “How did the IED get on board the airliner?” The FSB began studying the biographies of 34 passengers (11 men and 23 women) who had TNT molecules on their bodies. But official Egypt soon stated that there was no evidence for a clear statement about a terrorist attack on board the plane. None of the employees were actually arrested. Russian authorities have announced a $50 million reward for any information about the terrorists.
Only in February 2016 did the Egyptian President officially acknowledge the terrorist attack. It was discovered that the bomb was made from plasticite, which is used to create military projectiles. It is powered by a clock mechanism. The plane crash in Egypt on October 31, 2015 showed that the airport security system does not meet international standards. The IED could have come on board the food supply company, through employees with access to the runway, or through carry-on luggage during baggage checks. The latest data is such that it was in the cabin in the immediate vicinity of place 31A. All these facts led to a ban on the sale of holiday tours in Egypt.
Flight passengers
EI-ETJ - the last digits of the Airbus number. According to them, the aviators called the board “Juliet” among themselves, affectionately “Dzhulka”. On that tragic morning, she broke up three aviation marriages and killed a young steward who replaced a colleague who had quit due to a bad dream. It also took the lives of 217 passengers, 25 of whom were children. Those killed in a plane crash in Egypt are entire families, dozens of destroyed love stories, babies who will never grow up. Ten-month-old Darina Gromova was on this flight with her parents. Her mother posted her photo on a social network before the flight. A girl stands at the airport facing the runway, and below is the signature: “Main Passenger.” This picture became a symbol of the tragic flight from which no one was able to return.
Almost all passengers are Russians, 4 people are citizens of Ukraine, 1 is from Belarus. The majority are residents of St. Petersburg, although there are also representatives of other regions: Pskov, Novgorod, Ulyanovsk. Those killed in the plane crash in Egypt are people of various professions. Even while relatives were busy identifying the bodies, caring people were forming a collective portrait of the passengers, collecting information about them bit by bit. A wonderful gallery was created, where there were many good words about everyone.
Almost a year later
On July 31, Moscow and St. Petersburg held a rally in memory of those killed over the Sinai. Nine months passed: many relatives received compensation, identified and buried their loved ones, but the pain did not subside. On August 5, 2016, a message was received that forty-five militants led by Abu Dua al-Ansari, through whose fault the plane crash occurred in Egypt, were killed during a military operation near El-Arish. I really want to believe that something like this will never happen again!
Airbus A321 flight 9268 of Kogalymavia Airlines (Metrojet brand) crashed and disappeared from radar on the morning of Saturday, October 31. There were 224 people on board the plane - passengers, children, 7 crew members, all of them were Russians. The airliner was operating a “tourist” flight between Sharm El-Sheikh and St. Petersburg.
The latest information about the disaster can also be read on Twitter using the hashtag #KogalymAvia And #7k9268 .
The Egyptian authorities officially confirmed the plane crash and began searching for the wreckage with the army, while the Turkish aviation authorities reported that the airliner had entered their airspace. At the same time, the media previously stated that the airliner continued its flight, but the official press of Cairo states that the plane crash did occur, and the wreckage of the airliner is in Sinai.
The most eloquent illustration is the Flightradar system, which allows you to track any civilian aircraft in the world that have special transponders. According to Flightradar it is seen that the plane "descended at approximately 6,000 feet per minute (110 km/h) before the signal was lost" 23 minutes after takeoff.
The press also reports that the airliner's crew reported malfunctions; some journalists say that the PIC and co-pilot requested an emergency landing - however, this information has not yet been confirmed.
Let us note that many pilots and aviation experts, speaking about plane crashes, recalled that an engine failure (without destroying the engine or the aircraft) does not lead to the crash of airliners - they can glide even with all engines turned off to the nearest airfield (this has also happened in the history of aviation - media they remember both the emergency landing of the Tu-204 and the “Gimli glider”).
“The plane crashed in a closed military zone. Counter-terrorism operations are being carried out there,” reports VGTRK.
A state of emergency was introduced in northern Sinai in Egypt in connection with the crash of a Russian plane; the Prime Minister of Egypt, rescuers and military personnel went to the crash site.
Reuters reports that "the screams of surviving passengers may be heard at the crash site."
“The CREW OF THE CRASHED RUSSIAN AIRLINER COMPLAINED ABOUT ENGINE PROBLEMS SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK,” news agencies report.
"Egyptian emergency services have begun removing the bodies of those killed in the crash of the Russian A-321 in the Sinai Peninsula," - reports AFP. The disaster site is cordoned off and protected from looters.
"The bodies of five children have been found; the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai has broken into two parts," AFP said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his deepest condolences to the relatives of those killed in the Kogalymavia plane crash, ordering rescuers to be sent to the scene of the tragedy.
“The total flight time of the 48-year-old commander of the plane that crashed in Egypt was 3,682 hours. Of these, Valery Nemov flew 1,100 hours as an aircraft commander,” Lifenews.ru said.
“As it became known, before flying on an A-321 type aircraft, Valery Nemov flew a TU-154. The pilot was retrained at the AmurAir training center located in Turkey,” the press adds, calling the PIC a professional pilot.
It became known that at least one of the passengers on the flight posted a photo of the plane and her husband and daughter before takeoff, writing " we're flying home ".
“According to the Egyptian side, the plane was trying to land at El-Arish airfield,” the Russian Embassy reported.
“As it became known, about a hundred bodies of passengers were pulled out from under the wreckage of a Russian airliner that crashed 100 kilometers from El-Arish in the north of the Sinai Peninsula,” reports Egypt Independet.
“Eyewitnesses say that the plane that crashed in Egypt was burning in the air,” Kommersant FM reported.
The media reported that rescuers found one of the flight recorders - black boxes - at the scene of the tragedy.
President Vladimir Putin declared mourning on November 1 in connection with the crash of a Russian airliner in Egypt.
The bodies of all 17 children were found at the A-321 crash site in Egypt. RIA Novosti reports with reference to a civil aviation representative.
As Gazeta.Ru found out, the travel company Brisco, whose clients were flying on the crashed plane, and the Kogalymavia airline are owned by the same people.
“Either a fire in the central/tail section, or an engine fire spreading throughout the entire nacelle with subsequent thermal destruction of the wing,” they write on a professional pilot forum.
The local Bedouin tribe Al Tayaha saw a Russian Kogalymavia airliner crash on the Sinai Peninsula. According to the nomads, the Airbus A321 burst into flames in the air, in particular, they saw one of the plane’s engines burning.
"Many died in seats wearing seat belts," Egyptian intelligence official/Reuters
The office of the owner of the Kogalymavia airline on Stoleshnikov Lane in Moscow is being searched. Law enforcement officers are seizing documents and electronic media from the office, media reports.
Egyptian aviation authorities do not rule out that the crash with the Russian airline Kogalymavia in Egypt was due to a terrorist attack, CBS Extra reports. “This version is unlikely, since terrorists in the region do not have appropriate weapons - anti-aircraft missile systems, because the plane was at an altitude of more than 6 thousand meters,” experts say.
“A couple of months ago, rockets were fired at Israeli territory from Sinai. In Syria and Libya, Islamists captured dozens of C125 and C200 complexes. In Yemen, firefights are taking place using Point U, and the Saudis have deployed Patriots along the entire border,” they write on social networks.
“According to Ayman al-Mugadem, a spokesman for the Egyptian Aircraft Incident Investigation Committee, the pilot warned ground controllers that the plane had a “technical problem” and needed to land as soon as possible,” Izvestia reported.
Egyptian authorities said no one survived the Russian plane crash, Reuters reported.
Before taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh, the crashed plane underwent the necessary technical checks and no faults were identified, said the head of the Egyptian airport company Adel Mahgoub. “A technical inspection of the aircraft was carried out and its airworthiness was confirmed,” he emphasized.
On October 31, 2015, an A321 aircraft of the Russian company Kogalymavia crashed on the Sinai Peninsula, operating charter flight 7K-9268 on the route Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg. The airliner disappeared from radar 23 minutes after takeoff.
The wreckage of the plane was lifted using a special tool. Photo: Nikolay Nikitenko
When search teams of the Egyptian government left for the crash site, an Il-76 with rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations took off from the airport in Ramenskoye near Moscow.
They had to work in the heat in the stone desert, where there was no infrastructure. Each rescuer walked more than 45 kilometers during these days. But physical stress is nothing compared to psychological stress. They had to collect fragments of passengers' bodies and children's belongings in the desert.
Nikolai NIKITENKO, an international class rescuer of the airmobile rescue team of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations (Tsentrospas), spoke about how the search operation took place on the Sinai Peninsula, how they interacted with their Egyptian colleagues.
- How did you receive the signal to leave?
- The operational duty officer of “Tsentrospas” has a panic button. A signal sounds, and then an announcement over the loudspeaker. If there is a long trip ahead, so as not to disturb the people once again, the operational duty officer can call the group commander, report that “readiness number one” has been received, get ready.
Usually the duty shift goes. Depending on the emergency situation, specialists of a certain profile are dispatched. If an emergency occurs on the water, more rescue divers are hired, if in the mountains - those rescuers who have mountaineering training.
If a significant group is required, guys from the reserve are called in. For a business trip to the Sinai Peninsula, for example, in addition to the duty shift, a reserve from Moscow was brought up. Two divisions of Centrospas are based in the capital: in Sredny Zolotorozhsky Lane and on Novoyasenevsky Prospekt.
43 people went to Egypt from Centrospas, and 40 from the Center for Special Risk Rescue Operations “Leader”. 
- What special equipment did you take with you?
- Heavy rescue vehicle "Rosenbauer", which is equipped with various equipment - a hydraulic station and tools: scissors, wire cutters, expanders, hydraulic cylinders, jacks, as well as a motor cutter, chainsaw. There are also two inflatable modules for living. The second vehicle, a KamAZ, was loaded with food, fuel, water, heavy equipment and another inflatable module. Also, a UAZ traveling car flew with us to the Sinai Peninsula on an IL-72. The Leader detachment had two KamAZ trucks with them with the necessary equipment and equipment. In Egypt, there were 5 units of equipment from the Russian operational group. The director of the Department of Fire and Rescue Forces and Special Forces of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, Alexander Agafonov, was appointed head of the operation on the Russian side. 
- How long did it take to get to the crash site of A321?
- The flight to Cairo was 4.5 hours. Then, in the airport’s VIP lounge, we waited for the “Leader” squad to arrive. When everyone gathered, they formed a large column and moved to the Sinai Peninsula. The distance of 365 kilometers was covered in 8 hours. By that time it was already known that there were no survivors of the disaster. 
Items found at the A321 crash site.
- How were you guarded, since the peninsula is located in the zone of action of tribes that have sworn allegiance to ISIS?
- The security was unprecedented. At the airport, when we unloaded our cars from the plane, we were given an armored escort jeep. Then, in the column with us, both in front, inside and behind, there were about seven or eight vehicles with Egyptian military personnel. There were checkpoints on the road every 10–15 kilometers. Along the way we saw trenches, fortifications, craters, and dugouts. They guided us and gave us a “green corridor,” including when we passed through the tunnel under the Suez Canal. Because of our column, a rather large traffic jam formed there.
- How did you set up a camp in such a troubled region?
- The camp was set up near the largest fragments of the plane. It was about 200 meters from the destroyed nose, wings and part of the fuselage. We have had technology that has been proven for years. We unloaded the modules and connected them one by one to the air blowers. We hung up the electrics. An hour and a half later we had camp. A total of 5 modules were installed: 4 residential and one equipped as a headquarters. We also set up a tent for the dining area. 
The Egyptian military hammered in pegs and fenced the camp with barbed wire. We realized that we might stumble upon it in the dark, so we hung red and white marker tape on the wire. For safety reasons, the Egyptians brought a grader and dug in the camp. Parapet-type dumps were made along the entire perimeter. At night, patrols walked inside the camp, and jeeps stood along the edges. Then we found out that there was also long-range security. 
- How were the searches organized?
“On the same day that we set up camp, our group, with the consent of the Egyptians, nevertheless jumped out to assess the approximate amount of work. The next day, at six in the morning, as soon as it was dawn, we got up. At seven we set out, taking with us water and packed lunches. The security didn't have time to intercept us and lost us. The Egyptians thought that the Russians would rest from the road, but the Russians unexpectedly left early. Then they caught up with us in a jeep.
We arrived together with the “leaders,” according to the Egyptian side, to the farthest point, unloaded, lined up in a chain, covering about 14 square kilometers, and set off.
- It’s scary to imagine what you had to discover.
- They found personal belongings of passengers, documents, but the most painful thing was to collect children’s sandals, toys, mirrors... I also remember that they found a prayer book that was opened in prayer to the guardian angel: “... You enlighten me today and save me from all evil...” 
The found prayer book was opened in prayer to the guardian angel.
- What kind of area was there?
- The rocky desert stretched all around. It felt like there used to be a huge sintered glass field with a crust, which then cracked. The sand was covered with small broken stones. There were low sandy mountains, their height according to GPS was a maximum of 70 meters.
- How many hours a day did you have to work?
- On the first day we walked about 15 kilometers, worked until 16 hours until we arrived at the camp. The next day, the Egyptians prepared two jeeps in advance to follow each of our trucks. We worked in a mountainous area. They found many passports, student cards, phones, and tablets of the dead passengers. We drove another ten kilometers. When we climbed the mountains, the Egyptian military set up an observation post at the highest point and watched us from there. 
For two days it was hot, reaching +35, but then the sun began to periodically go behind the clouds, it was quite comfortable - +22–24, but at night the temperature dropped to +6–8 degrees.
“Wrote poetry. It was as if someone from above was guiding his hand..."
- What condition were the things in? The news showed a burnt suitcase.
“We found this suitcase quite far from the main part of the wreckage. Even the tail part lay closer. It was clear that the suitcase had flown from the sky already burnt. We said among ourselves that there was some kind of thermal effect. This was clear from the scattering of the debris. Based on the charred items found in the rear cargo area, it looked like ground zero was there.
We drove through all the large objects, recorded their coordinates and photographed them. Human flesh remained on the passenger seats found. We cut the upholstery off the chairs and put them in bags. Upon returning to the camp, they surrendered to the Egyptian side.
On the third day we were given the go-ahead to work on the main part of the fuselage, which lay not far from the base camp. Egyptian army soldiers collected the bodies of the dead passengers who were lying on top. They, of course, did great, they were able to cover a fairly large area in a day, while passengers fell out of the plane that broke up in the air.
Where the bodies of the Russians lay could be judged by the gloves that the Egyptians left behind when they packed the dead passengers into bags. The entire field near large fragments of the aircraft was dotted with these gloves.
The plane, falling apart in the air, turned over and fell up the landing gear. We had no right to change the position of parts of the aircraft. The Egyptian side studied them, as well as other technical factors. We only lifted the debris using a special tool. Fragments of passengers' bodies were found under many of them. Rescuers collected 64 bags containing small fragments and five bags containing large body parts. We found the body of a child under a fragment of a wing... 
- Then you wrote poems dedicated to the smallest passenger of Airbus 321 - Darina Gromova?
- I don’t know if we found the right girl. There it was impossible to even determine the sex of the child, the body was so damaged. I've seen a lot. This is not my first plane crash; I worked as a rescuer for twenty years. I saw that for the young guys from the Leader squad and our Muscovites this, of course, is a significant psychological burden. But on the fourth day it hit me too. I lay down to rest, turned on the player, listened not to music, but to poetry... And I began to feel pressure from within, I jumped out, grabbed a pen, found paper, and wrote poetry:
"I don't know you, Baby
How so? Why? For what?
A black flash forced me to sleep
And covered decay in eternity..."
As if someone from above was guiding his hand...
- Did they drive a refrigerator into the desert?
- No, an ambulance or a helicopter arrived for the remains once a day.
- Were the passengers’ belongings found somehow sealed?
“We put the bags with the things we found in one large bag, and upon arrival at the base, in the presence of our representatives, the things were handed over to the Egyptian side for inventory. The Egyptians sorted the things, packed them, put tags on them, and when a helicopter arrived, they loaded them and took them to Cairo. 
- Relatives of the dead passengers accused the Egyptians of looting. Their loved ones were not wearing gold jewelry, which they never took off.
- When we arrived, the bodies of the dead were no longer there. One of our rescuers found a small sleeveless vest, either for a child or for a woman, which contained dollars; we handed them over for signature. The guys found some more rubles. There were no more valuable finds. What happened before we got to this area is on the conscience of the Egyptians. It is enough to leave Cairo to understand how poor the country is. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that the gold jewelry was stolen.
- Were there any settlements nearby?
- It wasn’t nearby. Although the guys later found an oasis twenty minutes away in the middle of the desert. All around is a lunar landscape, and there are four houses, emerald palm trees, and a lake. Rescuers were prohibited from approaching this settlement for safety reasons.
At the second stage, the search area expanded to 20–30 square meters. km, and then up to 40 sq. km, the scattering of aircraft parts and personal belongings of passengers was so great.
Drones were used, as well as space monitoring and forecasting of possible locations of aircraft wreckage and personal belongings of passengers.
“They said goodbye to the dead passengers of A321 in their own way”
- What kind of relationship did you have with the Egyptian military who guarded you?
- We had complete mutual understanding and support. The guys who worked with us were operatives just like us. One of the security officers once studied in St. Petersburg, greeted us, calling us fellow countrymen.
None of the Egyptians wanted to believe that the plane was blown up. This is a big blow for them. The Suez Canal, as we understand it, is in first place in terms of budget revenues, and the tourism business is in second place.
- Is it true that you were covered from the air by combat helicopters?
- Combat helicopters covered the helicopter, which brought MAK and Investigative Committee specialists to the crash site. An Mi-8 or a Chinook heavy military transport helicopter would land, and cover helicopters would patrol around. The guys from the embassy later told us that there were instructions to shoot any unidentified, non-military jeep in the desert. 
- Did you experience a lack of water in the rocky desert?
- We had a supply of water and a shower with us. Only this time we did not install a pumping station on the shower. We saved water. A barrel was placed on the shower stall, from which water flowed by gravity. The “leaders” had their own shower and camp bathhouse. The only thing was that there was not enough firewood. They were brought to the boys from somewhere. But we adapted and washed ourselves. They took liquid disinfectant sprays with them into the desert.
The Egyptians helped us very well with food. They brought us lunch boxes, which contained two bottles of water - sweet and mineral, a couple of flatbreads, salad, sauce, rice, French fries and a couple of pieces of meat. You could have eaten too much. Plus we had dry rations with us. From all this our cook prepared camp dishes.
- Was there no cell phone service?
- We used satellite communications. The nearest cell phone tower was in Israel, 80 kilometers from us. When they turned on the phone, a message appeared: “Not registered on the network.” We were told that there were scouts there. 
- Did the snakes bother you?
- We didn’t see any snakes. When the wind stopped, flies appeared. We constantly saw tracks of gecko lizards. But the camp could not do without guests. One day a jerboa jumped into the module. One of the rescuers put him in a box, stuffed him with cockroaches and cucumbers as food, and intended to take this trophy home. But then a whole party of “greens” gathered, and he was told: “This animal lived here, and should stay here.” When the jerboa was released, it immediately ran back into the module. I had to kick him out by force.
- How long did the search operation last?
- On October 31, we took off from the Ramenskoye airfield near Moscow and returned home on November 11. The operational group of the Leader center returned to Moscow on November 16. They said goodbye to the dead passengers of A321 in their own way. On the ninth day after the plane crash, they lined up at the largest fragment of the burnt airliner, declared a minute of silence and laid flowers.
Representatives of the Egyptian side also stood with us at the makeshift memorial, where children's toys were piled up. 
224 people died, including 25 children. The people who committed this crime do not understand that there are laws of the Universe and no one can ever cancel the law of karma. Everything will return, everything will be rewarded.
