Moscow: A spokesman for Russia's top investigative body says the navigator of a passenger airline that crashed in June killing 47 people was drunk.
The Tu-134 slammed into a highway just minutes before it was to land at the Petrozavodsk airport in Russia's northwest on June 20. Five people survived.
Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee, said Sunday on Russian state television that "the navigator of the airliner was in a condition of alcoholic intoxication." He did not say whether the man was at the controls at the time of the crash.
The broadcast did not specify the level of intoxication, but said experts believe the navigator, who was killed in the crash, had consumed about a glass of vodka shortly before the RusAir flight that originated in Moscow.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, September 19, 2011, 14:02