French oil giant Total CEO killed in plane accident

Christophe de Margerie, CEO of the French oil and gas company Total SA, delivers a speech during the company's 2012 annual result presentation in Paris, in this February 13, 2013 file picture. Total SA CEO Christophe de Margerie was killed in an airplane accident at Moscow's Vnukovo airport, Russia's Tass news agency said on October 21, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

MOSCOW - Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive officer (CEO) of French oil giant Total, was killed here in a plane accident in the wee hours of Tuesday at an airport here.

De Margerie and three crew members were killed when the plane they were on collided with a snow-clearing machine at Moscow's Vnukovo International Airport, said an airport spokeswoman.

"A plane crashed when it collided with a snow-clearing machine. Three crew members and a passenger died. I can confirm that the passenger was Total's head de Margerie," said the spokeswoman Elena Krylova.

Total has also confirmed the death of its CEO in the plane crash in a statement, but said the accident had left a total of five people dead.

The collision occurred during the takeoff of the Dassault Falcon business jet bound for Paris with de Margerie on board on Monday midnight Moscow time, according to the airport.

As one of the most recognizable figures among the world's top oil executives, de Margerie, 63, was on a list of attendees at a Russian government meeting on foreign investment in Gorki near Moscow on Monday.

Total is the fourth largest by market value of the western world's top oil companies behind Exxon, Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron, and also one of the top foreign investors in Russia, which accounted for about 9 percent of Total's oil and gas output in 2013.