Chief of oil company Total dies in Moscow runway accident
Moscow - Christophe de Margerie, chief of French oil company Total, died in a private plane crash in Moscow, reports said Tuesday.
The Total Group confirmed de Margerie's death "with great emotion and profound sadness," French news agency AFP reported. De Margerie's Falcon 50 plane was attempting to take off from Vnukovo airport at around midnight (2000 GMT) when it collided with as now plough, the company said.
Three French crew on de Margerie's plane were also killed in the crash in fog, Russian news agency Tass reported.
Some reports said one more person had also died. Airport authorities said visibility was 350 metres at the time of the crash, Tass reported. Flight data recorders had already been taken from the plane to help investigate the crash, RIA Novosti news agency quoted an airport spokeswoman as saying. The driver of the snowplough was seriously injured in the collision, the report said.
The plane was bound for Paris. Vnukovo airport temporarily suspended all flights following the incident, but by 2 am all operations were restored, the Russia Today website reported. De Margerie, 63, had worked for the company that became Total since1974, and had been the firm's chief since 2007.The oil giant was to hold an emergency meeting in Paris following the news, French newspaper Le Monde reported.
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