Kaloyev was working in Spain in the summer of 2002 when his wife, Svetlana, 10-year-old son, Konstantin, and daughter, Diana, 4, set out to join him on a vacation. Peter Nielsen was manning two workstations at once and by the time he realized the plane carrying the family was on a collision course, it was too late. The passenger plane collided with a cargo plane, killing all 71 people aboard both vessels. (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)
Kaloyev has kept his daughter’s crib filled with her toys and a portrait of the 4-year-old. (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)
Kaloyev celebrates his 52nd birthday with a toast from his cousin Konstantin, right. Some Russians consider Kaloyev a national hero for his actions, while others are appalled at the adulation. I dont really take offense at people who call me a murderer. People who say that would betray their own children, their own motherland, he said. (Sergei L. Loiko / Los Angeles Times)
