An Ukrainian Sukhoi SU-27 fighter performs a manoeuvre before crashing into the crowd and killing 83 people so far. PHOTO - REUTERS
LVIV, Ukraine - Ukraine prepared for a mass outpouring of grief on Monday at a memorial service on the airfield where 83 people were killed when a fighter jet cartwheeled into a crowd of spectators at a weekend air show. Some families will start burying their dead as Ukranians observe an official day of mourning. Ukraine‘s President Leonid Kuchma, seeking to apportion blame for the world‘s worst air show disaster, sacked or detained several top military officials following Saturday‘s crash. There were „serious errors in organising, preparing and conducting flights, in particular organising demonstration flights in Lviv,“ his office said. Kuchma declared Monday would be a day of national mourning.
The head of the state commission into the accident said there were two possible reasons for the crash, which injured more than a hundred people — negligence among the top military ranks or plane failure.
Most analysts say spectators at the show should not have been allowed to sit or stand in any of the plane‘s flight paths.
Reuters
