"The blasts were everywhere. We didn't go there to extinguish fire at once"
Euroradio talked to the forest guard who got to the site of the SU-25 catastrophe first.
A military plane crashed in Navahradak district near the village of Naviny on June 12. The local forest guards arrived to the accident site first. One of them, Alyaksandr Urbanovich, says that explosions prevent them from extinguishing the fire.
"We have a fire vehicle with a driver here. We keep duty for the whole day. As soon as we got the information that there had been smoke over the forest, we headed there. And then we saw that there were explosions all over the place. We kept out of there at first. And then we got down to extinguishing it. After that, many people arrived and they sent us back".
The forest guards did not see the pilot's body - the plain was severely damaged. Inhabitants of the village of Naviny are convinced that the pilot tried to drive the plane to the woods, far from the houses. A villager says that the SU-25 flew right over his head before the accident.
"There were planes flying here yesterday. We were waiting for our cow to return from the field. One plane flew right over our heads and we heard some metallic banging sound. Several seconds later we saw the black smoke emerging from there. We saw this clearly from our backyard. We thought it was weird and wondered what was happening. It became very quiet. And just the black-black smoke was still coming out of there".
According to non-official information, the SU-25 flights were conducted for preparation to the July 3 parade. Pilots from Lida take part in such events on a regular basis. We can recall the incident with the SU-24 chain which frightened the inhabitants of Minsk back in 2010. However, the Ministry of Defense neither confirms nor refutes this. They only say that there will be no changes in the schedule of the parade because of this accident.
"Everything that has been planned will be fulfilled. There will be flights, preparation of the aviation etc", - says head of the press-center Uladzimir Makarau.
Until then, all flights of military aviation in Belarus have been prohibited. The experts have two weeks to find out the reason for the catastrophe.
The Belarusian air forces have lost five planes and helicopters for the last three years. The reasons for the accidents have not been published. Military expert Alyaksandr Alesin thinks that the reason is obsolescence of the equipment. The Belarusian military men just don't want to tell the truth about the condition of our planes.
"The condition of our aviation, which is not very good, makes the bosses of the Belarusian Armed Forces, in particular, the Air Forces, conceal the reasons for aviation catastrophes".
The deceased pilot - Lieutenant Colonel Mikalaj Hrydnyou - had a wife Tatsyana and two daughters - 8-year-old Nastya and 8-months-old Varvara. They assure in the Ministry of Defense that they will help the pilot's family.
