Total CEO dies in Moscow airport accident

Total CEO dies in Moscow airport
accident
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The charismatic Chief Executive Officer of Total,
Christophe de Margerie, was killed at a Moscow
airport when his private jet collided with a snowplow
whose driver was drunk, Russian investigators said
Tuesday.
Three French crew members also died when the
French-made Dassault Falcon 50 burst into flames
after it hit the snowplow during takeoff from
Moscow’s Vnukovo airport at 11:57pm Monday
local time.
Tatyana Morozova, an official with the Investigative
Committee, Russia’s main investigative agency,
said investigators are questioning the snowplow
driver, who was not hurt, as well as air traffic
controllers and witnesses.
“At the current time, it has been established that the
driver of the snowplow was in a state of alcoholic
intoxication,” Morozova said.
De Margerie, 63, was a regular fixture at
international economic gatherings and one of the
French business community’s most outspoken and
recognizable figures. His trademark silver
handlebar earned him the nickname “Big
Mustache.”
A critic of sanctions against Russia, he argued that
isolating Russia was bad for the global economy.
He traveled regularly to Russia and recently dined
in Paris with a Putin ally who is facing European
Union sanctions over Russia’s involvement in the
crisis in Ukraine.
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir
Putin sent a telegram to his French counterpart
Francois Hollande, lauding de Margerie for being at
the “origins of the many major joint projects that
have laid the basis for the fruitful cooperation
between Russia and France in the energy sphere
for many years.”
Hollande expressed his “stupor and sadness” at the
news.
In a statement, he praised de Margerie for
defending French industry on the global stage, and
for his “independent character and original
personality.”
Source . report agency
Posted by Maduka Tony