‘Killer’ grief-stricken to madness over crash

THE Russian man suspected of killing a Swiss air controller to avenge the death of his family in a mid-air collision was grief-stricken to the point of madness but did not publicly voice any threats, people who knew him said yesterday.

Swiss law enforcement officials declined to identify the suspect, whom they said was 48 and dark-haired, or give his nationality. However, Vitaly Kaloyev matches the Swiss prosecutors’ description of the suspect who stabbed to death Peter Nielson who ordered a Russian airliner into the path of another jet over southern Germany in July 2002. The crash killed 71 people, including 45 Russian schoolchildren. Kaloyev, 48, of Vladikavkaz, lost his wife, son and daughter.

The only other possible match, Vladimir Savchuk, who also lost his wife, son and daughter in the collision, was at his home in the city of Ufa in the Ural Mountains region, and is a balding blond, said Yulia Fedotova, an Ufa-based lawyer for the victims’ relatives. He said Kaloyev’s age and physique met the Swiss prosecutors’ description of the suspect, but said that he had never spoken about his plans to take revenge for his family’s death.