Photo of Darina Gromova - the smallest passenger plane flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg became a real symbol of the tragedy that occurred.

The photo was taken by Darina’s mother Tatyana Gromova before her flight from St. Petersburg on October 15 to Pulkovo. The photo shows a 10-month-old girl looking at the runway. “The main passenger,” the girl’s mother lovingly signed when she posted a touching photo on the social network Instagram. This was the baby's first flight. Two weeks later, while returning home, Alexey, Tatyana and Darina Gromov died.

Darina’s grandmother said that she did not want to let her granddaughter go to Egypt and offered to leave her while her parents were on vacation, but Alexey and Tatyana still refused: “They didn’t want to, we offered them. We wanted to take the child with us and splash our feet in the sea.”

There were a total of 29 children on board the ill-fated A321. As a result of the disaster over the Sinai Peninsula, 224 people died - 217 passengers and 7 crew members.

It became known that the “main passenger,” ten-month-old Darina, as well as her parents, had been found. Darina Gromova, who became a victim of a plane crash in Egypt, was the smallest child on board. On November 1, on Palace Square in St. Petersburg, people with candles in their hands, gathered for a minute of silence, laid out the word “Mom” in honor of the children who died in the disaster. In memory of the victims, flowers and toys were brought to the square, and white balloons were released into the sky.

Darina Gromova “main passenger” photo

When adults die because of someone else, it is a terrible tragedy. If children die for the same reason, then this is a doubly tragedy!

The tragic story of one family

A ten-month-old girl from the Leningrad region flew to Egypt by sea with her parents. In her father’s arms she swayed on the Mediterranean waves and soaked up the sun.

Darina Gromova is the main passenger of the tragic flight. Photo from her mother's social network page.

While returning home, the girl died in a plane crash along with her father and mother and other passengers on the plane. Among the almost three dozen children on that flight, there was no less Darina. Her parents Alexey and Tatyana Gromov worked in the same thriving company. It was a good young family.

At Pulkovo airport, the mother took a photograph of her daughter looking at the planes through the terminal window. And she posted a photo on social networks under the title: “Main Passenger.” Now this photo of Darina Gromova, still alive, has spread all over the world.

On the Internet, Darina is called the main passenger of the tragic flight. The baby’s grandmother, feeling the trouble, asked the children to leave her granddaughter with her. But they didn’t listen.

How did it happen?

On October 31, 2015, an Airbus A321-231 of a Siberian airline crashed over the Sinai Peninsula. It was chartered by the travel company Briscoe for international charter flight 7K-9268 St. Petersburg - Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg. On it, tourists returning home from Egypt were vacationing on the Mediterranean coast.

Within twenty minutes, the autopilot raised the plane to an altitude of ten kilometers. From there he immediately began to fall vertically at a breakneck speed of 1.8 km/minute. That is, it took 5.5 minutes to fall to the ground. During this time, the pilots requested a landing. But the landing strip was more than 50 kilometers away.

There were reports online that there was an explosion in the tail of the plane. They even named the person who brought the explosives on board and placed them in the “tail” of the liner. This was later confirmed by the layout of the remains of the liner. The disaster claimed the lives of 224 people (including the death of the entire crew). Initially there were several versions, in particular, a technical problem or a human factor. The main version was a terrorist attack.

The ISIS group, an organization banned in Russia, attributed it to its bloody account. As always in such cases, the perpetrators were not punished. The Kremlin assured that they would search for those involved in the death of the plane passengers indefinitely and punish the perpetrators.

This is the worst disaster of Russian passenger aircraft. There was no such tragedy either in the history of Egypt or in this series of Airbus. Flights to this African country from the Russian Federation were stopped for a long time, which hit Egypt’s tourism hard. Flights recently resumed after the Russian side was convinced of the safety of local air terminals. This kind of work is still being done.

Terrorist attack or equipment malfunction?

The Egyptians stubbornly refuse to recognize the cause of the disaster as a terrorist attack. The transport ministry of this country assured that final conclusions would be made quickly. But the conclusions still contain no mention of a terrorist attack. So trust them!

Considering all the circumstances of the false crash of A321 on October 31, 2015 - props in Sinai, media blanks of accounts, selfies, lists, etc., “the main passenger Darina Gromova” simply cannot help but be photoshopped.

The left child was filmed somewhere indoors, the airport was inserted.

The work is very thorough.

But Photoshop can't help but leave traces. There are a lot of them. We show.

Lighting. The runway is clearly illuminated by the low sun on the right (arrow). With this lighting, the left shoulder from behind (circled) cannot be illuminated. This is an oversight of the shopper, who used the figure of a child, filmed somewhere in a room with two light sources, one of which is on the right, the second on the left.

The biggest problem of Photoshoppers. They drew some kind of homunculus. The scale was greatly violated.

There is a way to measure the width of the parapet than in the photo of this parapet with two adults

With the average length of a man’s foot with a boot, the width of the parameter is a maximum of 4.5 cm.

Measuring the child's height with this width, we get a maximum of 45 cm plus feet. This is some kind of homunculus, not a human child at 10 months. Newborns are taller.

I'm just guessing, sorry. With very high tolerance.
For those who want, calculate more precisely, based on any table of the relationship between foot length and shoe size. I took the maximum, 32 cm is a lot, in fact this guy’s feet are no larger than size 40)

It can be done differently. By simply combining the width of the parapet, we get a homunculus that is shorter than the knee of a normal adult.

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 in the cafe “Museum for Friends” 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 Togliatti, 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 really looking forward to her.

Mom called Darina a princess. The parents doted on their daughter and dreamed of a second child.

The baby took 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.

Yesterday in Egypt, during the crash of a Kogalym Avia (MetroJet) plane, 224 of our compatriots were killed... About every tenth of them is a child... The youngest girl Darina was only 10 months old... Before departure, posting this photo online, young parents called her “the main passenger.”

I watch the news while abroad on the Russia Today channel. Tears well up in my eyes and it’s absolutely impossible not to take it to heart... My daughter turned 10 months old in 2014 when my whole family and her four-year-old brother went to travel around Asia. In three months, my children and I made 6 flights. Some flights lasted about 10 hours, some less than an hour. And we also considered her the “main passenger”. On every flight our daughter was the smallest...

Some of them were abroad for the first time on this fateful trip to Egypt, some proposed to their beloved, some were flying with the whole family with three children. All these children had their whole lives ahead of them and they could see the whole World. But their journey ended in the skies over Egypt.

It is especially scary to realize that the crash did not occur during takeoff or landing, not in a few seconds, as is usually the case... The plane fell from a height of 10 kilometers. How did the children and the parents of these children feel? I don't know. My son and daughter, who is now two years old, just woke up. She sits on my lap, and our third five-month-old baby sleeps in my wife’s arms. And I’m scared to even think about what the passengers of the ill-fated flight 9268 felt when their plane crashed.

My wife is very afraid of flying, but her passion for travel is stronger! For us, the 24 countries we visited are not the end, but only the beginning.

And you yourself seem to understand that after this event you will not stop traveling. Reason dictates that you are many times more likely to die without traveling at all - in your own car, minibus, on a bicycle or on a pedestrian crossing...

But you sit with your daughter on your lap, look at the photo of a ten-month-old girl on the monitor and tears well up in your eyes.

Our sincere condolences to the families and friends of all those who did not return home. Hold on, no matter how difficult it is! For the rest, I really want to wish... Love each other every second of your life, not paying attention to various minor troubles! And keep traveling no matter what!

P.S. Another disturbing feeling is that of anger and misunderstanding. Literally three days before this, the very worthy airline Transaero finally ceased to exist in Russia. As of 2015, Transaero was the safest air carrier in Russia and 17th in the world according to this indicator... And while the bankruptcy of Transaero is more reminiscent of a raider takeover by its main competitor Aeroflot, we all have to fly on the increasingly expensive Aeroflot or cheap "charters" like "KogalymAvia"? Although, the cause of the disaster remains to be determined... Again, speaking of the advantages of independent travel... When you travel independently, you choose the airline yourself. Most tour operators send tourists on cheap “charters” in order to save money.

P.S. We came across a poem for this photo on social networks. The author, unfortunately, is not signed (if anyone knows, write in the comments). Dedicated to Darina Gromova: