Armenian man’s horror death at Moscow airport likely caused by staff negligence, investigators say

An investigation has revealed the preliminary cause of the deadly incident when an Armenian citizen was struck and killed by a taxiing airplane at the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport to be violation of technical rules by dispatchers registering passengers and baggage handlers, Russian investigators told RIA Novosti.

The man, a 25-year-old Armenian national identified as Albert Yepremyan (pictured above), arrived in Moscow from Spain on November 20, 2018 after being deported. He was on his way to Armenia. The plane that struck him on the tarmac was a taxiing Boeing 737 operated by Aeroflot bound for Athens. The plane continued the takeoff and landed safely in Greece.

Authorities said in addition to the main version they are also probing other possible variants, “however, now we are inclined that the passenger wasn’t noticed”, Sergei Vazyulin, head of the Moscow transportation inter-regional investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee told RIA Novosti.

“He had exited the airport building and had to go and board the plane, however he appeared on the tarmac by bypassing it. We are now gathering necessary evidence, the investigation hasn’t yet completed”.

Initially, unconfirmed media reports suggested the man was trying to escape because he was being deported.