Avenged by heaven. Vitaly Kaloev never regretted the murder he committed

In 2002, on the night of July 2, a passenger Tu-154 collided with a cargo Boeing 757 over Lake Constance in Germany. There were 71 passengers in the Tu-154, of which 52 were children. The family of architect Vitaly Kaloev died in that plane crash.

The passenger plane was heading on a charter flight from Moscow to Barcelona, ​​and the Boeing cargo plane was heading from Bergamo (Italy) to Brussels. Children (52 people) were taken to Spain to relax - vouchers were issued by the UNESCO Committee of Bashkiria for high academic achievements.

Among the passengers of the Tu-154 were Vitaly Kaloev’s wife Svetlana, their 10-year-old son Kostya and 4-year-old daughter Diana. Vitaly Kaloev himself was working in Barcelona at that time, and the family flew to him. After a collision with a Boeing cargo plane, the Tu-154 simply fell apart in the sky. The debris was found in the vicinity of Uberlingen within a radius of 40 square meters. km. It took rescuers a whole week to find the bodies of all the dead: they were scattered across the field, near nearby buildings, on the side of the road.

The story of the tragedy of Vitaly Kaloev, how he killed the dispatcher

The plane crash occurred several minutes after German air traffic controllers handed over the escort of the Russian plane to their colleagues in Switzerland working at the SkyGuide center at Zurich-Kloten Airport.

According to the rules, two dispatchers should be on duty, but there was only one - Dane Peter Nielsen. He gave the order to the crew of the Russian passenger plane to descend at the very moment when neither he nor the Boeing cargo plane could occupy safe levels. It soon became known:

— The main equipment for telephone communication and automatic notification of center personnel about the dangerous approach of aircraft was turned off. The main and backup phone lines were not working.

The planes were approaching, everything pointed to a plane crash. A dispatcher from Karlsruhe, Germany noticed this and tried to call eleven times, but to no avail.

Peter Nielsen worked for some time after the tragedy, then he was fired.

Vitaly Kaloev was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy. The director could not find a place for himself, because his entire family died - his beloved wife and two small children. At first, the special services did not allow him into the area of ​​the plane crash, but he said that he wanted to search for the bodies of the dead with them, and he was given permission. During the search operation, Vitaly Kaloev discovered a pearl necklace. It was a decoration for his daughter Diana. The baby's body had virtually no serious damage. Soon the mutilated bodies of Svetlana and Kostya were found.

When Vitaly Kaloev found out that the plane crash was the fault of the dispatcher Peter Nielsen, he tried many times to contact the management of the aviation company. He wanted to know to what extent the dispatcher was to blame for the tragedy. Then he decided to talk to Peter Nielsen himself, and asked SkyGuide to organize a meeting for them. Initially, the company agreed, then refused without explaining the reason. A year passed, mourning events were organized to mark the anniversary of the terrible tragedy, and the director again contacted the company with the same questions and demands, and was again refused. But he had no intention of giving up.

February 24, 2004 was the last day of the life of former dispatcher Peter Nielsen - Vitaly Kaloev dealt with him in his home in Kloten (a suburb of Zurich). The director came to him with photographs of the dead family, expecting repentance from him. However, the man pushed Vitaly Kaloev away, and the photographs scattered. The director simply “lost his temper” and killed the man, inflicting more than twenty wounds with a knife. The dispatcher is survived by his wife and three children.

Vitaly Kaloev was very quickly detained by the Swiss police: an orientation letter was sent out to him. The director was detained at a local hotel and interrogated. He told how he found out where Peter Nielsen lives, what his family is like. He also said that he was in a state of passion when he stabbed Nilsen in his home.

Vitaly Kaloev was sent for a psychiatric examination. Based on the results obtained, he was found sane. The trial took place in October 2005: the director was given a sentence of 8 years, which he served in a Swiss prison. True, Vitaly Kaloyev was released in 2007 by decision of the Supreme Court of Switzerland for good behavior. Upon returning to North Ossetia, he began working as Deputy Minister of Architecture and Construction.

Swiss air traffic controllers were proven guilty.

— The control center in Zurich did not immediately notice the danger of two aircraft converging on the same echelon. As a result, the Tu-154 pilots followed the dispatcher’s command to descend, while the on-board flight safety system required them to urgently gain altitude.

The airline admitted guilt. A couple of years after the crash, Alain Rossier, director of SkyGuide, publicly apologized to the families of the victims. Vladimir Putin received a letter from the then Swiss President Joseph Deiss.

The film “Aftermath” was made about this plane crash, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Two days ago, on September 20, a press screening of “Unforgiven” by Sarik Andreasyan about the same tragedy took place. Vitaly Kaloyev was entrusted to play Dmitry Nagiyev.

What's wrong with Vitaly Kaloev now?

My heart aches for Vitaly Kaloev. But the man is trying to be strong, to arrange his life. Recently it became known that he got married again. The director speaks little and with caution about the new family. It is known that the chosen one’s name is Irina, they got married according to the Ossetian rite.

Irina and Vitaly Kaloyev became husband and wife back in 2014. The director is now 62 years old. On his anniversary (60th birthday) he was given the award “For the Glory of Ossetia”.

In 2002, two planes collided over the German Lake Constance near the city of Uberlingen on the night of July 1-2: a passenger Tu-154 of Bashkir Airlines and a postal Boeing 757 of an American airline. 72 people died, including 52 children from the Republic of Bashkiria, who, according to UNESCO, were recognized as the best in their studies and received a two-week vacation in Spain as a gift.

Architect Vitaly Kaloev, whose wife and two children died, stabbed air traffic controller Peter Nilsson more than 20 times, whom he considered the main culprit in the tragedy that happened 14 years ago.

Random flight

The family of Vitaly Kaloyev got on this flight by accident. They were flying to see him, their father, a famous architect who was finishing a project to build a house near Barcelona. In Moscow, Svetlana and her children had a transfer, but did not have the necessary tickets. They were offered to fly on a Bashkir Airlines plane that was flying to Barcelona.

Burnt trees

Residents of southern Germany saw in the night sky many multi-colored fireballs, bright sparks that quickly approached the lake and exploded. Some even thought that it was somehow connected with a UFO. But it was one of the worst and rarest aviation disasters of our time.

Plane debris fell on the border of Germany and Switzerland. Shrapnel and debris were scattered over a radius of 40 square kilometers. The trees were burned. For a whole week the police searched for the bodies of the victims. They found them in the field, near the school, near the roads.

Daughter's pearl necklace

Vitaly Kaloev, meanwhile, was waiting for his family in Barcelona. He was one of the first to come here to look for his relatives in the rural province of Southern Germany. The police did not want to let him into the scene of the tragedy, but they met him halfway when they learned that he would be looking for the dead with them.

In the forest, he found a torn pearl necklace of his four-year-old daughter Diana. To the surprise of the rescuers, his daughter’s body was practically undamaged. Search services will find the mutilated bodies of his wife Svetlana and ten-year-old son Konstantin much later.

Failed attempt to meet with dispatcher

After this, Vitaly approached the airline’s management several times and asked the same question regarding the degree of guilt of the dispatcher in the disaster that occurred over the lake. The director of the company was afraid of the “man with a beard”. The company management said nothing more about this. The aviation dispatcher remained at work in his place.

During this time, Vitaly went to the cemetery many times to visit the deceased family; in Vladikavkaz, he erected a monument to them.

Kaloev repeatedly appealed to the management of the Skyguide company with a request to meet with the dispatcher. At first they met him halfway, but then they refused without explanation. When mourning events dedicated to the anniversary of the tragedy took place, Kaloev again approached the leaders of the Swiss company, but did not receive any response from them.

Versions of the crash

Initially, a version widely spread in the media was that on that fateful night, aviation dispatcher Peter Nielsen was left alone in the room, while his comrades went to rest. He monitored the movements of the aircraft using two screens located at a distance of about a meter from each other. This was common practice in the company: only one operator remained to work at night. That night, the company's engineers turned off some of the equipment because they were carrying out preventative work on the radars.

According to investigators, on that day, by fatal accident, the air traffic controller did not correctly calculate the air corridor for two aircraft. They gained the same altitude and began a rapid approach, acting on commands from the ground. At this time, a third aircraft entered the airspace, diverting the controller's attention. There is interference in the radio communications. 22 months after the disaster, German investigators announced two main versions of the incident. Firstly, Peter Nielsen noticed the danger of a collision too late, and secondly, the Russian crew made a mistake by following the operator’s commands, and not their special on-board system warning of a dangerous approach. Investigators also pointed out to the company management that it was inadmissible for one operator to be on duty.

Air traffic controller killed

A year and a half later, this tragedy continued. In 2004, another terrible news spread across news agencies: on the threshold of his home on February 24, an air traffic controller, who was responsible for providing an air corridor for two aircraft, was killed. Forensic experts counted more than 20 stab wounds on the body of the attack victim, inflicted chaotically and with great force. The dispatcher died from his wounds on the threshold of his home. He left three children and a wife.

On April 7, Elliott Lester’s drama “Consequences” will be released on wide screens in Russia and Belarus. The plot is based on the true story of Russian Vitaly Kaloev, who lost his entire family in a plane crash over Lake Constance in 2002. As “SV” Kaloev said, he is outraged that the plot of the film deviates greatly from the truth

THE FLIGHT THAT FELL FROM THE SKY

Fifteen years ago, a tragedy in the skies of Germany shocked the world. Due to an error by Swiss air traffic controllers, two planes collided - a passenger Tu-154, flying on a charter flight from Moscow to Barcelona, ​​and a cargo Boeing-757.

71 people died, including 52 children. The children were heading to Spain on vacation. The vouchers were presented by the UNESCO Committee of Bashkiria as an incentive for excellent studies.

By tragic accident, there was a family from Vladikavkaz on the plane - Svetlana Kaloyeva with ten-year-old Kostya and four-year-old Diana. The woman flew to her husband in Spain, where he worked as a contract architect.

Two years later, Kaloev killed Peter Nielsen, the dispatcher on duty who controlled the path of a passenger airliner on that fateful night and made a mistake. The Russian served several years in a Swiss prison for murder.

HOW AN OSSETIAN BECAME AN AMERICAN

The tragic story “hooked” Hollywood. The famous producer Darren Aronofsky, famous for the films “Noah”, “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan”, decided to make a separate film. The “Terminator” and former governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger was invited to play the role of Vitaly Kaloyev.

The film is not devoid of artistic invention. The names of the characters and the location of events have been changed. The main character Roman Melnik lives in New York. The plane flies from Samara and crashes on approach to the American state. In a plane crash, the main character loses his wife and pregnant daughter.

The SV correspondent got through to Vitaly Kaloev.

- Vitaly Konstantinovich, how did you feel about the idea of ​​making a movie based on the story of your life?

I found out about two years ago from the media. They took it off and took it off. What we don’t want is speculation on the tragedy. A movie like this could be made about any child who was on that plane.

- Did the creators contact you for permission?

In 2015, representatives of Hollywood film studios called to ask if I was against filming a film about the tragedy over Lake Constance. I said I don't mind the film itself. He will be able to perpetuate the memory of my relatives. But directly during the filming of the film, none of the creators of this picture contacted me or consulted me.

- How do you like Schwarzenegger?

This actor's roles are mostly positive. I don't care how he played me. He didn’t ask how I felt or why everything turned out this way.

- Are you going to watch a movie?

Not sure yet. I don't go to cinemas at all. I know that the storyline of the film has been greatly changed. Honestly, this is infuriating. The whole world will see the situation completely different from what it really was. It's not fair.

-Have you thought about writing a book?

Myself? No. But I heard that on April 17 there will be a presentation of Ksenia Kaspari’s book “Clashes”, in which the journalist will try to remember the tragic events of 2002 and its consequences.

Recently Vitaly Kaloev celebrated his sixtieth birthday and retired. He was awarded the medal “For the Glory of Ossetia.” For eight years he worked as Deputy Minister of Construction of North Ossetia. He was invited to this post shortly after his early release from a Swiss prison.

Help "SV"

The collision over Lake Constance occurred on July 1, 2002. The Bashkir Airlines Tu-154M airliner, operating flight BTC 2937 on the Moscow-Barcelona route, collided in the air with a DHL Boeing 757-200PF cargo plane. The collision occurred near the small town of Uberlingen near Lake Constance (Germany). Everyone on board both died.

On February 24, 2004, air traffic controller Peter Nielsen, through whose mistake the disaster occurred, was killed on the threshold of his home. 46-year-old Vitaly Kaloev was arrested on suspicion of murder. According to Kaloev's testimony, he gave Nielsen photographs of the children and wanted the dispatcher to apologize to him for his mistake. Nielsen hit Kaloev on the arm. Then, according to Kaloev, he does not remember what happened. On October 26, 2005, the court found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to eight years in prison. As a result, after the case was reviewed, Kaloev spent two years in a Swiss prison and returned to Russia.

COMMON TRAGEDY

Belarusians died over Lake Constance

On board the plane was the Shislovsky family from Brest. A husband, wife and two daughters were going on vacation to Spain. On the way to Moscow, from where they were supposed to fly to Barcelona, ​​they had an accident: the train on which four members of this family were traveling collided with a car. As a result, the Shislovskys missed their scheduled plane and flew on the ill-fated Tu-154 of Bashkir Airlines.

The family is buried in the central alley of the Brest cemetery “Ploska”.

On July 1, 2002, two planes collided in the skies over Germany - a cargo Boeing-757 of DHL airlines and a passenger Tu-154M of Bashkir Airlines. The disaster over Lake Constance killed 71 people. There were only two pilots on the Boeing cargo plane, and on the Tu-154M, under the control of a crew of 9 people, 60 passengers flew from Moscow to Barcelona on vacation, 52 of whom were children.

This tragedy deprived Vitaly Kaloev of his entire family - his wife Svetlana, 10-year-old son Konstantin and 4-year-old daughter Diana died. Vitaly was waiting for them in Barcelona after a 9-month separation and the next day he was already at the scene of the tragedy. The police at first did not want to let him into the cordoned off area, but did not interfere when they learned about relatives flying on the crashed plane.

Kaloev helped carry out search work. National Geographic made a documentary about this, which talks about how Vitaly first found his daughter’s torn beads himself, and then her body. Diana found herself 3 kilometers from the place where the plane crashed.

Why did the planes collide?

Both aircraft were flying over Germany, but a private company based in Switzerland, Skyguide, was responsible for their movements there. There were only two air traffic controllers at its control center in Zurich that night. Just before the collision, one of them went on a break, and only 34-year-old Peter Nielsen, who had to work behind two terminals, remained on duty. There was also an assistant next to him, but she did not play any role, and could not do so.

Some of the equipment in the control room was turned off, and Nielsen missed the moment of the dangerous approach of two aircraft flying at the same altitude - 11,000 meters. Less than a minute before their trajectories intersected, he tried to correct the situation and transmitted an emergency descent command to the Tu-154M, but it was too late. In the last seconds, the pilots of both aircraft were able to see each other, each of them completely turned the control wheel, but this did not help.

The investigation showed that:

• the dispatcher did not provide safe separation for the aircraft; his command to the Tu-154M came too late;
• Skyguide knew about the lack of staff to work the night shift and did not solve the problem; for several years the company tolerated the fact that at night air traffic control fell on a single controller while his colleague rested;
• on the day of the collision, the equipment that alerts air traffic controllers when planes are approaching dangerously was turned off for maintenance;
• in the Skyguide dispatch center the main telephone was turned off, and the backup one turned out to be faulty; because of this, Nielsen did not receive a warning about the dangerous approach of aircraft from his colleagues from the German city of Karlsruhe, who also monitored air traffic in his area of ​​​​responsibility; It turned out that they called Zurich from Karlsruhe 11 times for this purpose.

Modern aircraft are equipped with a TCAS (Traffic collision avoidance system) system, which automatically changes altitude if there is a risk of dangerous approach to another aircraft. It worked on both aircraft. Nielsen gave the Tu-154M the command to descend, and the pilots carried it out, despite the fact that TCAS informed them of the need to gain altitude. On the cargo Boeing, the automation worked as usual and also sent the plane down, but the dispatcher did not hear this message, because at that very moment another aircraft came into contact with him.

Murder of an air traffic controller

In 2003, in Iberlingen, Germany, a funeral ceremony was held at the site of the plane crash to mark the anniversary of the tragedy. During it, Kaloev, according to Skyguide employees, behaved excitedly, which frightened the head of the dispatch company. They also said that Vitaly went to the company’s office, talked with its employees, asked them about the guilt of the dispatcher and sought a meeting with him.

On February 24, 2004, Kaloev came to Nilsen’s home, where he killed him in front of his wife and three children. After this, Vitaly did not try to escape; the next day he was detained in his hotel room. He did not admit his guilt, although he did not deny it. Kaloev, when testifying, said that he actually came to Nielsen with photographs of family members and demanded an apology. The dispatcher hit him on the hand, the pictures ended up on the ground. Vitaly does not remember further actions. The police report states that Nielsen was stabbed 12 times with a folding knife and died at the scene.

On October 26, 2005, Kaloyev was convicted and, according to the laws in force in the canton of Zurich, sentenced to 8 years in prison. However, two years later he was released for good behavior. At the airport in his homeland in North Ossetia, Vitaly was greeted very warmly.

After crime and punishment

There was little information about the future life of Vitaly Kaloyev after returning home from a Swiss prison. During the war in South Ossetia (08/08/08), he was noticed among the militia in the urban-type village of Dzhava. Vitaly himself did not comment on this, but his brother said that he was there for work - building the Zaramagskaya hydroelectric power station.

In North Ossetia, Kaloev, who previously worked as the head of the construction department of Vladikavkaz, and then went to Spain to design cottages for people from his native republic, received the post of Deputy Minister of Architecture and Construction Policy. At the age of 60, he retired, having previously received the medal “For the Glory of Ossetia.”

Cultural trace

The tragic and controversial story of Vitaly Kaloev is reflected in music and cinema. Futurepop band Edge of Dawn from Germany used Kaloyev's story as the basis for their first release. We are talking about the EP “The Flight” released in 2005, which contains the song “Losing Ground” with the words “Losing ground is what it takes if you really want to fly.”

Rockers Delta Spirit from the USA recorded the track “Ballad of Vitaly”, which they placed at the end of their album “History from Below” (2010).

In April 2017, the American film “Consequences” was released, the script of which was written based on the events that happened to Kaloyev. The grief-stricken father and husband is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The action of the film is transferred to the territory of the United States, and according to the plot, the construction worker who killed the dispatcher is serving a 10-year sentence, after which he is almost killed at the family grave by the grown son of the murdered man. The film turned out to be a failure, both in terms of box office and critical reviews.

On July 19, 2018, that is, 18 days after the 16th anniversary of the tragedy, the Russian film “Unforgiven” is due to be released, in which the names of all the main participants in the story and the locations affected by the events are preserved. The main role is played by Dmitry Nagiyev. The only sad thing is that Sarik Andreasyan is the director, screenwriter and producer of the film at the same time. He, together with Enjoy Movies, releases several films on Russian screens every year, which sometimes set box office records, but mostly fail and receive a lot of negative reactions for bad taste, vulgarity, an abundance of advertising, mediocre acting and low-quality scripts.

I wouldn’t want the tragic, powerful and now half-forgotten story of Vitaly Kaloev to become just an excuse for another attempt to earn some money with a dubious film conveyor. It is rather worthy of a good book, in which, in the traditions of Russian literature, the feelings and thoughts of a simple person, who in an instant found himself in his own hell, looking for answers and a way out, will be described.

P.S. At the end of 2018, Vitaly gave birth to twins: a boy and a girl. The new wife's name is Irina.

Vitaly Kaloev is a seemingly ordinary person, a Soviet architect and builder. But the event that occurred on July 1, 2002, radically changed the man’s life, completely depriving it of meaning.

In a plane crash, Vitaly Konstantinovich lost his wife and two children. The grief-stricken father and loving husband decided to punish dispatcher Peter Nielsen, who was responsible for the tragedy. This story has acquired a global scale: Vitaly’s act is talked about not only in Russia, but also in other countries.

Childhood and youth

The biography of Vitaly Kaloev began on January 15, 1956 in North Ossetia, in the city of Vladikavkaz, formerly Ordzhonikidze. The boy grew up in the village of Chermen in an intelligent family: his father Konstantin Kambolatovich, an Ossetian by nationality, taught his native language at school, and his mother Olga Gazbeevna worked as a teacher. Vitaly has two brothers and three sisters, among them he is the youngest.

In the Kaloyevs’ house there were many books on the shelves, since the father of the family often bought literature even with his last money. Vitya loved to read the epics of his native country, as well as the works of Russian writers. The little boy was distinguished by his mental abilities: at the age of 5 he was already calmly learning poetry by heart, unlike his brothers and sisters.

In high school, the gifted boy studied with honors, his diary showed only A's. After graduating from school, Kaloev enters a construction college, and then goes to serve in the army.

Career

After the army, Vitaly successfully passed the exams at the North Caucasus Mining and Metallurgical Institute and entered the Faculty of Architecture. Kaloev did not waste his time studying; the talented student worked part-time as a construction foreman, learning the basics of the profession in practice. Kaloyev’s brigade participated in the construction of the Sputnik military camp near Vladikavkaz.

Architect Vitaly Kaloev

In the late 80s, Vitaly created his own construction cooperative. Later, the architect was invited to the position of head of the construction department in the capital of North Ossetia. Since 1999, he collaborated with a Spanish construction company that was engaged in the construction of houses for immigrants from the Caucasus.

Personal life

According to the memoirs of Yuri, Vitaly’s brother, the younger Kaloev was in no hurry to get married. Konstantin Kambolatovich dreamed of his son getting married and even raised four bulls as a holiday gift, but Vitaly first wanted to get on his feet and then start a family to provide for his wife and children.

Kaloev met his future bride, Svetlana Gagievskaya, at a bank where she worked as a director.

In 1991, in the winter, the lovers got married, there was a large-scale celebration in the Kaloev family: Vitaly finally got married, and even the relatives liked the bride. The couple had two children: son Kostya in 1991 and daughter Diana in 1998.

Kostya studied well at school and was also interested in astronautics. Vitaly tried to raise his children in peace and harmony: the Kaloev family lived together in harmony, the man still had home footage of happy times when everyone was smiling. In a video from the family archive, Kaloev carried his daughter in his arms and laughed all the time.

Airplane crash and dispatcher murder

In the summer of 2002, Vitaly worked in Spain, building a cottage for a customer. Due to his stay abroad, the man did not see his wife and children for 9 months. Svetlana and her children decided to visit her husband in a sunny country.

Arriving at the Moscow airport, the Kaloyev family did not purchase tickets to Barcelona due to the cancellation of the flight, but three hours before departure, the woman was offered seats on the Bashkir Airlines plane, and Svetlana immediately agreed. They were met by Vitaly’s brother Yuri, and, according to his recollections, the woman was panicking because she did not make it on time for the flight.

The plane was flying to Barcelona, ​​almost all the passengers on board were children who received free trips to Spain from the state for good studies and victories at the Olympics. Therefore, the company decided to sell off the remaining eight seats: there were 71 people on board the plane.

The airliner flew over Germany late at night; the private Swiss company Skyguide was managing the flights. At the time of the tragedy, 2 people were working in the control room, one of whom was away for a break. 34-year-old Peter Nielsen had to independently cope with two remote controls and give commands to the pilots.

Some of the equipment in the control room was turned off, and the telephone connection did not work. Peter Nielsen noticed late that the Boeing, which was flying to Brussels, was on the same flight level with the Tu-154 aircraft of Bashkir Airlines. Peter tried to correct the situation and gave orders for flight 2937 to descend. At the same time, the TCAS electronic automatic system gave the same command to the Boeing to descend.

The pilots of Flight 611 tried to inform Nielsen that they had complied with the TCAS command, but the air traffic controller was giving instructions to another crew and listened to the message from the Boeing command.

Before the tragedy, in a matter of seconds, the Boeing and Tu-154 pilots saw each other and did everything possible to prevent the accident from happening, completely deflecting the controls.

The planes collided at right angles over Lake Constance, near the town of Iberlingen in Germany on July 1, 2002 at 21:35. All people on board both crews were killed.

Vitaly learned about the tragedy on the morning of July 2. At 7 o'clock he called his brother Yuri and cried. Kaloev immediately flew from Barcelona to Switzerland, and from there he got to Iberlingen to the scene of the tragedy. Vitaly, together with the police, took part in search operations and soon independently found the body of his little daughter.

After the two planes collided, lawsuits began between the airlines. Bashkir Airlines filed a lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany for using the services of foreign commercial organizations, and against Skyguide for employee negligence and equipment failure. During the investigation, Peter Nielsen was not fired and continued to perform his job duties. Winterthur, the insurer of the Swiss airline, paid compensation to the relatives of the victims in the amount of $150 thousand.

The family's funeral took place at home. The farewell ceremony was attended by several thousand compatriots. After the incident, Vitaly Kaloev lost the meaning of life, which was family. The grief-stricken father spent almost every day at the cemetery. Work lost its meaning for him.

Vitaly Kaloev at the grave of his wife and children

The only thing Vitaly saw as a goal for himself was ordinary human apologies and recognition of his guilt by Peter Nielsen, who, according to the man, was to blame for the tragedy that occurred. The dispatcher got away with only a fine and continued to work for Skyguide, living a normal life with his wife and small children.

In the summer of 2003, Vitaly came to Skyguide in search of justice. The man hoped to wait for an apology for his broken life. According to the recollections of the director of the Swiss organization Allen Rosier, Vitaly behaved excitedly, constantly asking the dispatchers whether Nielsen was to blame for the incident. He also sought a meeting with Peter, who was working that day, but was refused.

Kaloev stopped believing in God and continued to seek justice on his own. In the winter of 2004, hoping to talk with Peter, Vitaly goes to the Swiss town of Kloten. Nielsen's neighbor told the man where the air traffic controller's house was located.

Standing on the threshold with a photo of his wife and children, Vitaly knocked on the door of the culprit of the tragedy. Nielsen opened it. Kaloev began to communicate with the dispatcher in broken German, showing a photo, hoping that the criminal would repent. Instead of apologizing to the unknown man, Peter pushes him and the photographs fall to the ground.

On February 24, 2004, Nilsen died from 12 stab wounds on the threshold of his own home in the presence of his family. Kaloev did not admit to what he had done, but he also did not deny his guilt, because due to clouding of his mind, he does not remember what happened that day.

A Swiss court sentenced Kaloyev to 8 years in prison, proving that he killed the dispatcher. When Vitaly Konstantinovich was serving his sentence, letters from all over the world arrived in prison in his name from unknown people who expressed condolences to the prisoner. There were so many messages that they were counted by weight. Over the course of 2 years, about 20 kg of letters accumulated, which the architect took away after his release.

In the fall of 2008, Vitaly was released early for good behavior. In Russia this man was greeted as a real hero. Kaloev admits: he was pleased that hundreds of people supported him, but he himself does not consider himself a hero and does not want to be pitied.

After his release, Vitaly managed to improve his personal life. The man found new love and married for the second time in 2012. His wife was Irina Dzarasova, an engineer at Sevkavkazenergo OJSC. Only close relatives of the newlyweds were present at the wedding. Now Kaloev and his wife live in the house that Vitaly built for his first family. This is a large building with many rooms, stucco molding made in the national style. The architect built the mansion with the hope that his children and grandchildren would live here.

Vitaly Kaloev now

Since 2008, Vitaly Kaloev served as Deputy Minister of Construction in the Republic of North Ossetia. On his 60th birthday he retired. Despite the fact that the tragedy over Lake Boden occurred in 2002, this terrible event is still remembered.

On April 7, 2017, the film “Consequences” was released, based on real events, in which the role of Vitaly Kaloev is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The city of Columbus, Ohio was chosen as the location. The main character's name and life story have been changed. In the American drama his name is Victor, and he is an emigrant from Russia

Vitaly himself admits in an interview that he was dissatisfied with the famous actor’s performance: according to him, Arnold seeks to evoke pity among the audience, which contradicts Kaloev’s worldview.

On April 13, 2017, Channel One aired the program “Let Them Talk,” dedicated to the terrible tragedy and memory of the victims. In the summer of 2018, NTV dedicated the program “New Russian Sensations: Vitaly Kaloev” to the tragedy of the Ossetian architect. Confessions of an Avenger."

“Let them talk” - “Tragedy over Lake Constance. 15 years later"

Russian cinema also could not ignore the story of Vitaly Kaloev. Sarik Andreasyan became the director of the drama “Unforgiven”, in which the main character was presented on the screen by Dmitry Nagiyev. The premiere took place on September 27, 2018. The leading actor himself considers this work the best in his creative career.

2018 film "Unforgiven" - trailer

The film also stars Rosa Khairullina, Mikhail Gorevoy, and Irina Bezrukova. At the first open film festival "Crystal Source", which took place in Essentuki, the film received 3 awards.