A resident of Brovary near Kiev, Oleksandr, approached a group of volunteers who, together with the police, were drawing up lists of victims and injured in the crash of a government helicopter. He was confused and anxious. A moment later, he found out that he had lost his wife and five-year-old daughter Miłana – the Ukrainian section of the BBC tells his story.
Helicopter crashed in Browary near Kiev on Wednesday morning. The machine fell into the kindergarten area. The crash killed, among others, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denys Monastyrski, his deputies Yevheniy Jenin and Yuriy Lubkovych, as well as three employees of the ministry.
The State Service for Emergency Situations of Ukraine reported that a total of 14 people, including a child, died as a result of the tragedy. A dozen or so people remain in the hospital: children attending the kindergarten, their parents and teachers.
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He couldn’t remember the group number
On Wednesday morning, Oleksandr’s wife, Olena, took her five-year-old daughter, Miłana, to kindergarten “Dżereltsy” (“Spring”). The man was asked for the number of the group the child attended, but he could not remember it.
“He didn’t remember, many parents at that time couldn’t remember elementary things,” volunteer Lidia told the BBC. She confessed that she suddenly realized that it was most likely the helicopter crash that killed his family.
From the windows of a skyscraper
Oleksandr’s cousin, Kateryna, later told the Ukrainian section of the BBC that on Wednesday morning the man drove his wife and daughter to kindergarten and left them there. That was the last time he saw them. Oleksandr’s eldest daughter, 12-year-old Ewa, called him right after the helicopter crash. She said she saw flames near the kindergarten. She saw them from the windows of the skyscraper where they lived on the eighth floor. The building is located right next door, in the same yard.
The first moments after the helicopter crash in Browary Reuters
Kateryna, in turn, saw Oleksandr standing in front of the kindergarten from the window of the apartment. When the blanket was removed from one of the victims, he staggered and grabbed his head. Then she understood what had happened. Volunteer Lidia was standing near the man at that time. He recognized the child by the earrings. He did not recognize his wife at all, his DNA was taken – Lidia told the BBC.
Oleksandr’s relatives still do not know when Olena and Milena will be buried.
Main photo source: PAP/Vladyslav Musienko