On July 2, 2002 (May 22, 2002 in the lunar calendar), a Russian Tu-154 passenger plane collided with a cargo plane, killing 74 people. Photo: Russian Tu-154 passenger plane On July 2, 2002, a Russian Tu-154 passenger plane collided with a cargo plane, killing 74 people. Swiss air traffic control officials said on July 2 that the Russian Tu-154 passenger plane received the first Swiss order to lower its altitude one minute before it collided with a Boeing 757 cargo plane, but they refused to say whether one minute was enough for the Tu-154 passenger plane to execute this order. According to Reuters, the official said at a press conference that Swiss air traffic controllers issued the first descent order to the Tu-154 passenger plane one minute before the crash, and explained that the reason for the descent was that another plane was about to pass through the route. Previously, Switzerland had pointed out that its air traffic controllers issued three emergency descent orders to the Tu-154 passenger plane before the plane began to make a sharp dive. In the end, it collided with a Boeing 757 cargo plane that was also flying in a dive flight, resulting in the tragedy of 74 deaths. However, the Swiss side refused to say whether one minute was enough for the Tu-154 passenger plane to execute the descent order, saying that only after more facts were available could a judgment be made on the cause of the collision. Allegedly, there was only one air traffic controller on duty at the time, monitoring a total of five aircraft. He has not yet recovered from the shock of the plane collision, so he has not been questioned by investigators. Keywords: Russian Tu-154 passenger plane crash