UOC monastery abbot dies in a plane crash

The flight of a private Cessna jet that crashed on November 4 near Vidvazhne village in Crimea was unplanned and was performed on a personal request of one of the passengers – abbot of Kiziltash monastery and rector of the Holy Protection Church of the UOC (Moscow Patriarchate) in Sudak, hegumen Nikon (Demyanyuk), according to Vlasti.net.

The Cessna jet was assigned to Koktebel airfield, and, like other aircraft, performed entertaining flights for tourists. On the fateful day, airfield was at the controls of an airplane.

"Oleg was an experienced pilot and had had twenty years of service. That evening he did not have to fly anywhere, that flight was unplanned. He was not warned that he was going to fly. He was asked by father Nikon, they are old and close friends,” we were told at Koktebel airport.

Colleagues of the deceased pilot added that despite the fact that the flights of this airfield are paid, hegumen Nikon never paid the rent and is often used the craft for personal purposes. The other two victims of the crash were Tamara Belyay and Oleg Kharchenko, a clergyman’s friend and his driver.

The tragedy occurred in the evening, on November 4, near Vidvazhne village of Kirov district. The Cessna jet crashed for reasons that have not been determined yet. Investigators instituted a criminal case over the plane crash under article “Violation of safety rules of flight and operation of air transport that caused death of two or more persons out of negligence.”