CEO of oil giant, Total, Margerie dies in plane crash

The chief executive of oil giant Total, Christophe de Margerie, has died after his private jet crashed into in Moscow on Monday night.

The 63-year-old Frenchman was the only passenger on the Falcon 50, which is believed to have had three crew members on board who also died in the crash.

Reports said the aircraft which was heading towards Paris, collided with the clearing machine on take-off.

MailOnline quotes Tatyana Morozova, a spokesman for the Russian transport department, as saying: “A criminal investigation has been opened into the violation of safety regulations after a light aircraft crash in the capital’s Vnukovo Airport.”

According to Morozova, the plane was sending distress signals while still in the air and reporting engine fire and fuselage damage. “It then crashed onto the runway, killing everybody on board,”

Mr De Margerie has been Total’s head for seven years even though his leadership had been rocked by controversies.

Some of such controversies included corruption charges relating to the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Iraq, of which he was acquitted last year.

Mr De Margerie, who earned £2 million a year, is survived by a wife and three grown-up children