FRANCE-CRASH/AMERICAN FAMILY Plane crash victim's father: "I don't feel anger"

Record ID: 244062

  • Title: FRANCE-CRASH/AMERICAN FAMILY Plane crash victim's father: "I don't feel anger"
  • Date: 27th March 2015
  • Summary: CASTELLDEFELS, SPAIN (MARCH 27, 2015) (REUTERS) ROBERT TANSILL OLIVER AND MARIBEL CALVO, PARENTS OF GERMANWINGS CRASH VICTIM ROBERT OLIVER CALVO ROBERT TANSILL OLIVER AND MARIBEL CALVO AT INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERMANWINGS CRASH VICTIM'S FATHER, ROBERT TANSILL OLIVER, SAYING: "I don´t feel anger. I'm really sad for the parents of that young pilot. I mean, I can't
  • Embargoed: 11th April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA28KZXE7QVDD1JGNUK724I5A97
  • Story Text: The parents of an American victim of the French Alps plane crash said on Friday (March 27) they feel sadness for the parents of the co-pilot rather than feeling anger for the loss of their son.
    French prosecutors say a young German co-pilot barricaded himself alone in the cockpit of Germanwings flight 9525 and apparently set it on course to crash into an Alpine mountain, killing all 150 people on board including himself on Tuesday (March 24).
    The prosecutors have offered no motive for why Andreas Lubitz, 27, would take the controls of the Airbus A320, lock the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately set it veering down from cruising altitude at 3,000 feet per minute.
    German police have searched his home for evidence that might offer some explanation.
    Robert Tansill Oliver, a Jehovah's Witness, lost his 37-year-old son Robert Oliver Calvo in the Germanwings plane crash on Tuesday (March 24).
    "I don´t feel anger. I'm really sad for the parents of that young pilot. I mean, I can't imagine what they´re going through right now. As well as companions here, they are all feeling, hurting. No we don´t feel anger at all. As Witnesses we are peace makers. We are sorry it happened of course. We blame what the bible calls the rule of the world. We are angry with the rule of the world," Oliver told reporters outside the Rey Don Jaime hotel where the relatives of the victims are staying.
    Oliver was not keen on launching legal action over the loss of his son.
    "I'm in touch with the American Embassy in Madrid and the consulate in Barcelona it all depends on how well things take place. The generalitat now is intervening and giving a certain amount of counsel, guidance. We have to just wait and see. We´re not eager to take any legal action. We're mostly interested in sharing hope and comfort and of course being with our family, our niece and our grandchildren, comforting them," he said.
    "The responsibility of the governments and the airline companies, I hope they do take steps to make sure what happened to my son never happens again to anyone," Oliver added.
    Robert Oliver Calvo was a Barcelona-born American citizen.
    He worked for the Barcelona-based clothing company Desigual, and left behind a wife and two children.
    Calvo's mother, Maribel Calvo, says legal action wouldn't help the situation.
    "Well we say why we would hate or take revenge. That is not going to help in any sense and at the same time we are going to hurt ourselves. We hope our God Jehovah takes revenge and put an end to all the injustice in the world so we can live in peace under the fair reign of God," said Calvo.
    "Well, we will do, logically, what we have to do. It is something that has to be done. We have lost a son, a husband and it can´t stay like that," she said.
    Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings could face liabilities well above the typical ceiling in airline crashes for the passengers who died on Tuesday, some aviation lawyers said.
    A lot will depend on whether the airline can defend itself against negligence claims.
    An international agreement generally limits airline liability to around $157,400 for each passenger who dies in a crash if families do not sue, but if families want to pursue compensation for greater damages, they can file lawsuits.
    Lawyers who have represented families in past airline disasters told Reuters on Thursday that potential lawsuits could focus on whether Germanwings properly screened the co-pilot before and during his employment, and on whether the airline should have had a policy requiring two or more people in cockpits at all times during a flight.
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