MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2019) Natalia Fileva, the co-owner of Russia's S7 Airlines, died in a plane crash in central Germany on Sunday, a highly placed source in the company told Sputnik.
German newspaper Bild reported that a light six-seat plane crashed in a field and burst into flames on Sunday afternoon near Egelsbach, a town in the state of Hesse.
"Natalia Valeryevna and her father have died. They were flying to Germany for medical treatment," the source said, denying that S7 Director General Vladislav Filev, Natalia's spouse, was on the plane.
The Sputnik source said all three people on board, including the pilot, were Russian nationals.
The air carrier has confirmed the death of Natalia Fileva in a comment to Sputnik.
"On March 31, 2019, S7 Airlines shareholder Natalia Valeryevna Fileva died at the age of 55 when her private Epic-LT plane was preparing to land at Egelsbach Airport (Frankfurt-on-Main). Circumstances of this tragedy are not known," it said.
The company added the crash would be investigated by an international commission together with Russian air safety authorities.
A representative of the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) told Sputnik that the agency had launched a probe into the accident.
Germany's air traffic control agency DFS told Sputnik said the pilot did not report having problems before the plane vanished from radar.
"We can only speculate. The pilot might have lost control of the aircraft or experienced a technical fault. There is no certainty at the moment," a DFS spokesperson said.
A source in the Russian space industry said S7 was working on a strategy for commercial space launches at Natalia Fileva's request. It was to be laid out at the upcoming meeting of Russia's state security council.
"The S7 Board of Directors was expected to discuss and approve a new strategy for S7 Space ... This issue will be postponed due to Natalia Fileva's death," the source said.
Fileva told Sputnik earlier that the company was going to cancel a contract with a Ukrainian rocket maker on the production of Zenit launch vehicles and use the soon-to-be-built Soyuz-5 rockets for launches from its recently purchased Sea Launch floating platform off Long Beach, California.
Russia's State Space Corporation Director Dmitry Rogozin said he took the death of Natalia Fileva, whom he called Natasha, as a personal loss.
"I want to express sincere condolences to the husband and family of Natasha Fileva on behalf of my colleagues at Roscosmos. She was a great aviation and space enthusiast, and her death is a personal tragedy for all of us," he tweeted.
In a statement on Roscosmos' website, Rogozin said the agency planned to build a customized version of the future Soyuz-5 rocket to be used at Sea Launch. He said they had been in constant contact on S7 Space, which is Russia's first commercial space firm.
