Total oil exec killed when plane collides with drunk snowplow driver

[Haltech]

Filed under: Europe, Russia



Sad news out of Russia today, as it's being reported that Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive of France's Total Oil, has been killed along with three other people after their plane collided with a snow plow on the tarmac of Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport.

The plane de Margeri was on, a Dassault Falcon, was to fly from Moscow to Paris, after the 63-year-old exec meant with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. According to a statement by Russian authorities, "Investigators are looking at a mistake by the air traffic controllers and the actions of the driver of the snow plow. Apart from that, they will also check the versions of poor weather conditions and mistake by the crew."

"At the current time, it has already been established that the driver of the snow plow was drunk," the statement added. Investigators, meanwhile, have seized all video and audio recordings leading up to and during the incident, Russia's TASS News Agency reported.

De Margeri has been with Total since 1974, when he graduated from Paris' Ecole Superieure de Commerce business university. He took the helm of the French oil company, Europe's third largest, in 2007. He was affectionately known within the company as "Big Mustache."

"It's a huge loss to the industry and its future focus," former Shell Oil CEO John Hofmeister told the BBC. "What he has done for Total in repositioning the company to return to integrity and sound operations is deeply respected and highly regarded."

According to the BBC, Total did not have a succession plan in place, only indicating that de Margeri's successor would come from within. The company's board will be assembling as soon as possible.Total oil exec killed when plane collides with drunk snowplow driver originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 21 Oct 2014 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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