Air-show catastrophe

Lviv, Ukraine

A fighter jet plunged into a crowd of onlookers in Lviv this week, killing 83 people, in the world’s worst air-show accident. The Russian-built Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet accidentally skimmed some treetops while performing aerial flips. The two pilots immediately ejected, and the plane crashed and skidded along the ground through the spectators before exploding. Hundreds among the crowd of 10,000 were injured. A grieving President Leonid Kuchma said the armed forces, which organized the show, were criminally negligent in allowing the plane to fly over spectators. Within hours, the head of the air force and three top officers were arrested, and the defense minister and army chief of staff resigned. The pilots might be arrested as well, after they get out of the hospital.