Siberia Airlines Flight 1812

Siberia Airlines Flight 1812

Occurrence
Date	4 October 2001 (2001-10-04)
Summary	Shot down by a missile
Site	Black Sea
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Tupolev Tu-154M
Operator	Siberia Airlines
Registration	RA-85693
Flight origin	Ben Gurion Int'l Airport Tel Aviv, Israel
Destination	Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport Novosibirsk, Russia
Passengers	66
Crew	12
Fatalities	78 (all)

Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 was shot down by a missile and crashed over the Black Sea on 4 October 2001, en route from Tel Aviv, Israel to Novosibirsk, Russia. The plane, a Soviet-made Tupolev Tu-154, carried an estimated 66 passengers and 12 crew members. Most of the passengers were Israelis visiting relatives in Russia. No one on board survived. The crash site is some 190 km west-southwest of the Black Sea resort of Sochi and 140 km north of the Turkish coastal town of Fatsa and 350 km east-southeast of Feodosiya, Ukraine. Ukraine admitted that the disaster was probably caused by an errant missile fired by its armed forces.

Initial information

The Russian ground control center in Sochi suddenly lost contact with the airliner. Soon afterward, the pilot of an Armenian plane crossing the sea nearby reported seeing the Russian plane explode before it crashed into the sea about 1:45 PM Moscow time (9:45 AM GMT). Most of the passengers were Israelis visiting their relatives in Russia. No one on board survived. A national day of mourning was instituted in Israel - with a minute of silence, flags at half-mast and schools teaching special lessons on the tragedy. The monument to the victims was built in Ben Shemen forest in Israel.

Alleged missile accident

Occurring less than a month after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the crash was initially thought to be an act of terrorism. Nicholas Esterhazy, in an editorial in the Johns Hopkins Newsletter, speculated that, while Israeli and Russian intelligence immediately suspected a terrorist attack, Central Intelligence Agency reported that the crash was due to an errant S-200 surface to air missile fired as part of a Ukrainian Air Defense Forces exercise staged off Cape Onuk (or Chuluk) in Crimea. Esterhazy considered this hypothesis unlikely due to the missile's range and safety-features. He noted that the missile, with a range of 240 km (150 mi) could not have struck the plane which was more than 320 km away from the missile launch site.

Russian officials initially dismissed the American claim as "unworthy of attention," and Russian President Vladimir Putin told the press the next day that "the weapons used in those exercises had such characteristics that make it impossible for them to reach the air corridor through which the plane was moving." Ukrainian military officials initially denied that their missile had brought down the plane; they reported that the S-200 had been launched seawards and had successfully self-destructed. Indeed, Defense Ministry spokesman Konstantin Khivrenko noted that "neither the direction nor the range (of the missiles) correspond to the practical or theoretical point at which the plane exploded."

However, Ukrainian officials later admitted that it was indeed their military that shot down the airliner.

Compensation payments

On 20 November 2003, an ex gratia compensation agreement was signed between the governments of Ukraine and Israel. It was later ratified by the relatives of the victims who agreed to the conditions. In addition to compensation issues, the agreement has stated that "Ukraine is not legally responsible for the accident that occurred to the plane and free of any obligations regarding it". Commenting on the agreement, Gen. Oleksandr Kuz'muk, the ex-Minister of Defense sacked after the accident, told media that "the payments were a humane action, not the admission of guilt".

Additional compensation claims by relatives

Pechersk local court

Some relatives of the crash victims refused to accept the compensation offered by Ukraine. They brought a civil suit against the Ukrainian government to Pechers'ky local court in Kiev. During the court hearings, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence representatives stated that the airplane "could not be brought down by a Ukrainian missile" according to the forensic examination of the plane's debris, radar information and technical capabilities of the missiles. They also argued that the Soviet-made Identification friend or foe system of the missile in question would have prevented it from striking the Soviet-made airliner. The lawyer representing the plaintiffs argued in media that the fault of the Ukrainian government was effectively proven by the fact that it negotiated the compensations for Israeli relatives of the victims.

None of the 11 forensic examinations carried out so far have proven the probability of hitting the Tupolev-154 by a Ukrainian missile.

Appeals in courts

On August 22, 2007 Kyiv Appeals Court has dismissed the victims' relatives suit against the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, ruling that military of Ukraine bear no liability for the accident.

As of January 2013 the court proceedings continued.

Memorial Services

Subsequent memorial services are held in Israel, Sochi and Novosibirsk.

See also

• Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 (was also destroyed due to a suspected missile attack or a bomb)
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 17
• Israel–Russia relations
• Israel–Ukraine relations
• Russia–Ukraine relations

External links

• Template:Ru icon Investigation. Interstate Aviation Committee.
• Criminal Occurrence description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Canadian TV reporting on the unscheduled stopover at Burgas, Bulgaria.