“The main passenger”: the body of a girl was found, whose photo became a symbol of the plane crash. Darina Gromova - the main passenger of the tragic flight
Darina main passenger: trip story, family, photos. In a terrible plane crash that occurred over Sinai Peninsula, 224 people died, among whom were 29 children. But I would like to pay more attention to one of the stories: the Gromov family (mother, father and daughter), flying from vacation.
Main passenger
Ten-month-old Darina Gromova, the daughter of Alexei Gromov, was interested in looking at airplanes in such close proximity for the first time in her life, as a result of which her mother captured the child’s genuine interest in the photo and posted it on Instagram with the description: “ Main passenger #family #darinagromova @Pulkovo Airport Saint-Petersburg New Terminal 1" For the Gromov family, this was their first trip together.As LifeNews reports, Darina’s grandmother admitted that she was worried that her granddaughter would not survive the flight well, but the parents did not dare to leave their 10-month-old daughter for the duration of the trip. In addition, the woman noted that her husband and Darina’s grandfather was a military pilot who retired with the rank of colonel. Her son Alexey also wanted to become a pilot, but she did not allow him. As a result, he went to work for an IT company.
"Chief Passenger"- photograph of ten-month-old Darina Gromova (December 26, 2014 - October 31, 2015), who died with her parents in the A321 crash over the Sinai Peninsula. Photo from Pulkovo Airport, posted by her mother Tatyana Gromova in social network“VKontakte” with the caption “Chief Passenger” was published in many world media and attracted much attention as a symbol of the plane crash, which became the largest in the history of Russian aviation.
Photography and reaction[ | ]
A photo of Darina Gromova standing near the glass and watching the planes at Pulkovo Airport was published by her mother Tatyana Gromova on her page on VKontakte and Instagram with the caption “Main Passenger”, this post by Tatyana Gromova was the last.
Soon after the plane crashed and the list of those killed was published, a photograph of a ten-month-old girl at the airport attracted a lot of attention, spread all over the world, was published by many media outlets, appeared on television news, and was called by many publications a symbol of the tragedy of flight 9268.
A few days after the plane crash, a petition arose on the website change.org for the installation of a monument to Darina Gromova at Pulkovo airport. According to the initiators, this should be a sculpture of the “main passenger” with an airplane in his hand. Within a few days, the petition received more than 160 thousand signatures. The Russian Youth Union sent a letter to the famous sculptor Zurab Tsereteli, asking him to become the author of a sculptural composition that included a sculpture of Darina Gromova. Tsereteli agreed to the creation of the monument and stated that he had several options and agreed to work on the memorial for free. Previously, the authorities of St. Petersburg announced that the city does not have the money to create a memorial, but it could be accepted as a gift. According to the chief architect of St. Petersburg, Alexander Petrov, the memorial should not be installed at Pulkovo Airport, as it will bring sad thoughts to passengers
Rescuers are our bodies of 10-month-old Darina Gromova and her parents, Alexey and Tatyana, who were victims of the crashAirbus A321 in Egypt. The girl was the youngest on board; her mother called her “the main passenger.” The couple got married just a year ago, and this holiday in Egypt was the first trip together for their family. Before flying to Sharm el-Sheikh two weeks ago, Tatyana posted on her Instagram a photo of little Darina watching the planes at Pulkovo.
“The main passenger,” the young mother affectionately signed the photo, not suspecting that this particular photograph would become a sad symbol of the terrible tragedy that occurred in the skies over Sinai.
Journalists from the LifeNews TV channel reported the discovery of the bodies of the Gromov family. In a conversation with the publication’s staff, Darina’s grief-stricken grandmother said that she did not want to let the girl go to Egypt and was worried about how the baby would survive the flight. She also offered Alexei and Tatyana Gromov to leave their 10-month-old granddaughter with her during the trip, but they refused.
Darina Gromova’s grandmother said that her son Alexei called her on the eve of the disaster to inform her of his imminent return. In the crash of the Kogalymavia liner, a woman lost three relatives at once - a little granddaughter, one of her sons and a daughter-in-law.
Let us note that rescuers from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations will continue active searches at the site of the plane crash with Russians in Egypt from the very morning of November 2, 2015. As TASS reports with reference to the acting head of the National Center for Crisis Management of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia Alexey Smirnov, the search area currently covers more than 20 square kilometers. Due to the fact that the plane, according to available data, began to fall apart while still in the air, the bodies of its passengers were scattered at a great distance from each other and from the main crash site.
Let us recall that the Airbus-321 aircraft, operating flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg, crashed on the Sinai Peninsula on October 31, 2015. The airliner's crew stopped communicating shortly after takeoff. According to some information, the plane dropped sharply by 1.5 kilometers, after which it disappeared from radar screens. Before contact was lost, the pilot was requesting permission to land at Cairo airport.
There were 224 people on board the crashed A321 - seven crew members and 217 passengers. The plane crash was the largest in the history of Russian and Soviet aviation.
For the first time in two years, Elena Alekseevna Gromova, the grandmother of the “main passenger,” decided to give an interview. After the tragedy, she did not find the strength to go to work and retired. The only thing that distracts me from those memories now is social activities and waiting for the results of the investigation.
We met at the “Museum for Friends” cafe in Pushkin. Literally across the road in the shade of trees stands the Tsarskoye Selo Gymnasium, where Alexey Gromov graduated from high school.
WILL NOT BE IN THE PAST
“My husband is a military pilot, a retired aviation colonel,” Elena Gromova tells the story of the family. - We often had to move from place to place. Children were born in garrisons. Alexey was born in the Far East.
In 1997, when my husband’s service came to an end, they transferred to Pushkin. When Lesha graduated from the ninth grade, we moved to Gatchina - they gave us an apartment there.
So Alexey graduated from grades 10-11 there, at a school with a physics and mathematics focus. Studying was easy for my son; he did not need to be supervised. He himself understood what he needed. And in the 11th grade, Alexey had already made his choice: he signed up for courses at Military Mech. He chose the Faculty of Information Systems and Technologies. The competition was crazy, but he passed physics and mathematics with excellent marks. He scored ten out of ten. And Lesha graduated from school as a student. It was such a joy - he fulfilled his dream. The strongest university, and also budget education.
This is how he is, our Lesha. If he has a goal, he achieves it. He doesn’t see any obstacles in front of him. Sociable, open. All our friends adored him.
I don’t want to say “was” about him; he won’t be in the past as long as we exist.
LOVE AFFAIR AT WORK
Alexey Gromov was only 27 years old. Daughter-in-law Tatyana would have turned the same age on December 9. It was a beautiful office romance. The couple met at work in 2012. A native of Tolyatti, Tatyana worked for a large company in St. Petersburg - she organized forums and conferences. Alexey worked in the IT department.
Tanya was a very talented, purposeful, creative girl. She graduated from ENGEKON, spoke foreign languages, they say about such people: talent is talent in everything. I used to do gymnastics, sew, embroider, and draw. It was bursting with energy. So many thoughts, so many ideas in my head. Everything she took on came easy to her. Kind girl. She and Lesha looked very natural and organic,” says Elena Gromova. “I remember the first time he brought her home.” They came in with smiles on their faces. It was clear: yes, this is love. It's as if puzzles have come together. This rarely happens.
They got married in August 2014. Alexey proposed to his beloved in the sky. I rented a plane with an instructor especially for this purpose.
Soon after the wedding, Tanya and Lesha had a daughter, the couple was looking forward to her.
Mom called Darina a princess. The parents doted on their daughter and dreamed of a second child.
The baby won a prize in one of the children's competitions “How I spent my summer.” This was her first prize: a diploma, a bouquet... We all went together to receive this gift,” says Elena Gromova. - Darina is a charming, smart, mischievous, inquisitive girl. Everyone's favorite.
Before flying to Sharm el-Sheikh, my mother took a photo of the baby at Pulkovo and signed it: “main passenger.” So Darina became an unspoken symbol of the tragedy - the most important, smallest passenger of flight 9268. When the tragedy happened, the baby was only ten months old.
NO ONE COULD ACCEPT THIS
I remember the events of October 31st like yesterday. This is such pain - pain on a universal scale. “I lost half of my family,” says Elena Gromova. - Nobody could accept this. All the family friends took it too seriously. One almost committed suicide, another ended up in intensive care...
The evening before our flight from Egypt, Lesha called. You could hear from his voice that he was happy,” recalls Elena Gromova. - He said that Darishka really liked everything. Everything, he says, I’ll tell you tomorrow. And he specified the arrival time.
Lesha’s parents left for the airport in advance. On the way, we stopped at a grocery store - we needed to feed the travelers on the way.
Usually I get up in the morning, turn on the TV, and go online. And that morning we did none of those things. This was the strangeness of this day. Although by that time everything was already known... We didn’t see them for two weeks, we missed them. So there was only one plan for the day: to meet the children,” Elena Gromova sighs heavily. - We left early to stop at the store. It was necessary to bring them, help with lunch, so that after the vacation they would not be overloaded, and would have a rest from the road.
And when we were driving to Pulkovo, my eldest son called my husband. And Lesha’s friends told him... My husband had difficulty holding the steering wheel then, military restraint probably helped. But still we drove with the hope that this was nonsense.
When we arrived at the airport, there weren’t many people there yet. And this red line on the board that the flight was delayed... But the information desk said that there was no information. To explain, we were offered to go from Pulkovo to the hotel. There were some people there, there were psychologists, but there was no need for them at that time.
I don't know how to explain my condition. We found ourselves in ashes. Some kind of surreality, as if all this was not happening to us. It was just a shock. And now the shock has passed, only the pain remains.
We went through all the horror of the hell that our children had to experience. We went for identification. We saw them at the morgue.
THE SKY HAS NOT FORGIVEN
You know, I think that heaven has not forgiven us. Lesha was also a reserve officer, and after Voenmekh he wanted to fly to Kamchatka,” admits Elena Gromova. - But I didn’t let him in. I wanted him to be near...
But the parents tried to dissuade the young people from vacationing in Egypt.
Lesha, it’s Syria there. Go to Cyprus, advised the head of the family. But in Egypt the sea seemed warmer and the sun brighter. I wanted to please the child. When they flew away, strange things happened to my father: he lost the key, then he fell ill with a fever for two days for no reason.
The last family meeting of the male half was in September of that year. The boys and their husband went mushroom picking and fishing. Then my husband told me that he felt something... Lesha then hugged him and said: “Dad, don’t get older! You and I will do such things.”
Lesha had good prospects: upon returning from vacation, a promotion order was waiting for him at work.
Our son was brought up in the spirit of statehood. Reserve officer. He studied at the budget department. It is very painful and insulting when a country loses such people. And the state is obliged to make sure that the crime is solved. It may take some time, but this is a crime without a statute of limitations.
REFERENCE
The Gromovs occupied the 9th row, seats D, E, F. Rescuers managed to find the 10-month-old baby only a few days after the plane crash. She was brought in on the second plane - with those who could be at least somehow identified without the help of DNA. The bodies of Lesha and Tanya were delivered much later. The whole family was buried one day before forty days from the moment the liner crashed.
