Lvov authorities striving to obtain home video featuring air crash

The mass media has released an address by the Lvov city administration to submit home video featuring the crash of the Su-27 fighter to help the investigation.

According to the Ukrainian radio, pilots Vladimir Toponar and Yury Yegorov who piloted the fighter, have already been transported from the Lvov military hospital to the Vinnitsa flight centre where military pilots undergo health tests. Lvov medics suspect that Yegorov has compression fractures in two vertebrae. Toponar who also had his backbone injured now can walk all by himself. Both pilots are in shock.

Seventy-two out of the eighty-three victims of the crash have been identified. Relatives have identified 23 dead children, 17 women and 32 men. Another 11 victims are extremely difficult to be identified because the corpses had been severely disfigured.

On Saturday, July 27th, a Su-27 fighter performing a demonstration flight crashed into the crowd at an air show outside the city of Lvov. According to the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry, as a result of the crash, 83 people died, another 66 people, including 21 children, were rushed to hospital. Twenty-three people are in a grave condition.

The victims will be buried on Monday.

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has instituted criminal proceedings into the case.

In connection with the tragedy, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma signed decrees to dismiss Commander-in-Chief, Ukrainian Air Force, Colonel-General Viktor Strelnikov and Chief of the Ukrainian General Staff Colonel-General Pyotr Shulyak.

Viktor Strelnikov and another four high-ranking officers, who were in charge of the Lvov air show, were arrested on Sunday. They were charged with criminal negligence of their duty.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Vladimir Shkidchenko has reported his resignation. President Kuchma has not taken any decision so far.