FRANCE: DEATH TOLL FROM AIR FRANCE CONCORDE AT GONESSE CRASH RISES TO 114/ AIR FRANCE STAFF HOLD VIGIL AT CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT

Record ID: 383706

  • Title: FRANCE: DEATH TOLL FROM AIR FRANCE CONCORDE AT GONESSE CRASH RISES TO 114/ AIR FRANCE STAFF HOLD VIGIL AT CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT
  • Date: 28th July 2000
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (28 JULY 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV: EXTERIOR OF THE PARIS MORGUE 0.06 2. MV: SECURITY OUTSIDE MORGUE 0.13 3. MV/SLV: COUPLE CONSOLING EACH OTHER OUTSIDE MORGUE (2 SHOTS) 0.39 4. SLV: HEARSES WAITING FOR COFFINS OUTSIDE MORGUE 1.02 5. VARIOUS OF FAMILIES OF THE VICTIMS WAITING OUTSIDE MORGUE (3 SHOTS) 1.39 6. PAN: HEARSE DEPARTING 1.51 7. VARIOUS: AIR FRANCE STAFF AT AIR FRANCE SERVICE AT CHARLES DE GAULLE AIRPORT (4 SHOTS) 2.57 8. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENT OF AIR FRANCE JEAN-CYRIL SPINETTA SAYING: "In the last 24 hours we have done what we had to do to help and support the families of all the victims of this tragedy. We've done it with compassion, decency and generosity. I wish to thank all those who did that for Air France. Today is the time for Air France to pray for those who have died in the service of the company. We have all known, from the moment of the accident, that the crew to whom we pay homage today fulfilled their duties with their trademark remarkable efficiency and professionalism, well known to all their friends and family." 4.06 GONESSE, NEAR PARIS, FRANCE (JULY 28 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. WIDE OF SITE AS AIRCRAFT FLIES OVERHEAD (AUDIO) 4.11 10. LV: WORKERS IN WHITE PROTECTIVE CLOTHING WANDERING AROUND CRASH SITE 4.23 11. LV: TRUCKS AND HEAVY LIFTING EQUIPMENT 4.28 12. LV: WRECKAGE 4.35 13. SLV: HEAVY LIFTING EQUIPMENT CARRYING WHEEL/ UNDERCARRIAGE TO TRUCK 4.57 14. SV: MANAGER OF THE HOTEL WHERE CONCORDE CRASHED, MICHELE FRICHETEAU (WITH BANDAGED HANDS) LEADING A MARCH THROUGH THE TOWN 5.02 15. VARIOUS OF MARCH IN PROGRESS (3 SHOTS) 5.25 16. AIRCRAFT FLYING OVERHEAD PAN DOWN TO MARCH 5.39 17. SV: FRICHETEAU AT HEAD OF MARCH 5.49 18. VARIOUS: PEOPLE SIGNING CONDOLENCE BOOK INSIDE TOWN HALL (3 SHOTS) 6.03 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 12th August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, GONESSE, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA8TTV9T9KT1HV6WSUBU2V7WKPJ
  • Story Text: Searchers at the Concorde crash site in Gonesse north
    of Paris have recovered another body from the rubble, bringing
    the death toll from Tuesday's tragedy to 114.

    As families of the victims of the Concorde crash continued
    recovering the bodies of their loved ones from the Paris
    morgue, an ecumenical service was held at the Air France
    Headquarters where Air France personnel honoured the memory of
    their dead collegues.



    French authorities released a number of victims'
    bodies for burial on Friday (July 28).

    Distraught relatives waited outside the Paris morgue for
    the formalities to be completed before the bodies were placed
    in hearses to be driven away.

    Meanwhile, Air France held a special service to pay
    tribute to the flight crew who died in the crash at its Paris
    headquarters.

    President of Air France Jean-Cyril Spinetta told his staff
    that they had done what had to be done to help and support the
    families of victims of the tragedy.

    "We've done it with compassion, decency and generosity. I
    wish to thank all those who did that for Air France. Today is
    the time for Air France to pray for those who have died in the
    service of the company," Spinetta said.

    Uniformed air crew stood silently, some crying, as the
    service proceeded.

    "We have all known, from the moment of the accident, that
    the crew to whom we pay homage today fulfilled their duties
    with their trademark remarkable efficiency and
    professionalism, well known to all their friends and family,"
    Spinetta said.

    Another body was found at the crash site of this week's
    Air France Concorde disaster on Friday, raising the death toll
    to 114, the French Transport Ministry said.

    A ministry official said rescuers had removed the corpse
    from the rubble of the hotel Hotelissimo in the town of
    Gonesse, where the supersonic airliner crashed on Tuesday
    minutes after taking off in flames from Roissy-Charles de
    Gaulle airport.

    The gender and nationality of the victim were not known.

    All 100 passengers on flight AF 4590 to New York -- 96
    Germans, two Danes, an Austrian and an American -- and the
    nine French crew were killed in the disaster. Four other
    people, including two Polish women, were killed on the ground.


    The Ministry said a burst tyre may have been at the root
    of this week's Air France Concorde disaster.

    It was the clearest statement yet from an official French
    body on the possible cause of Tuesday's accident.

    Citing information released earlier on Friday by the
    official French Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA), the
    ministry said:
    "From the information available at present to this body,
    it emerges that at least one tyre burst, something that could
    have triggered a chain of events, damage to the plane's
    structure, a fire and engine failure."
    It said Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot had asked
    civilian aviation authorities to work out what additional
    safety measures and check-up could be put in place to allow
    Air France Concorde flights to resume.

    The carrier has suspended Concorde supersonic flights
    until further notice since the crash.

    British Airways, the only other Concorde operator,
    suspended two flights in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's
    disaster but has since resumed normal services.

    France's Le Parisien newspaper said Friday (July 28)
    sources within Air France told it that lengthy repair work was
    conducted on Tuesday (July 25) morning on the afterburner
    equipment of the two left-side engines, which are one of the
    main focuses of the crash inquiry.

    "According to our information, an afterburner pump was
    apparently replaced on engine number two," it said, referring
    to the engine which crash investigators say failed on take-off
    and which witnesses said appeared to be trailing fire.

    The afterburner is a device normally found on military
    supersonic jets and unique to Concorde among civil airliners.

    It injects aviation fuel into the exhaust stream of the
    jet turbines which ignites and provides a rocket-style boost
    to the engine's thrust during take-off. It creates a trademark
    blue flame as Concorde starts -- not the plume of orange fire
    that the ill-fated charter to New York trailed from its left
    wing.

    Le Parisien quoted an unidentified mechanic as saying:
    "The afterburner pump pushes out a great volume of fuel at
    high pressure. If it goes wrong or breaks, there's a risk it
    can turn the back of the engine into a real blow-torch."
    The French Accident Investigation Bureau has so far
    revealed only that the jet had trouble with both port engines
    and was already shedding debris, including tyre shreds, as it
    hurtled down the runway at Charles de Gaulle airport for a
    take-off that turned to disaster within seconds.

    The only officially confirmed repair work on the day of
    the accident was a separate job requested by the pilot of the
    plane just before take-off, involving the replacement of a
    part in one of the thrust reversers on engine number two.

    Investigators are currently examining the hundreds of
    details collected from two black box flight recorders
    recovered after the plane crashed. On Friday investigators
    and emergency crews continued the grisly task of sifting
    through the debris left by the crash at the site itself.

    Heavy lifting equipment moved what appeared to be the
    aircraft's wheel and landing carriage.

    The jet tore into a hotel in the town of Gonesse near
    Charles de Gaulle airport.

    Villagers from Gonesse joined friends and relatives of the
    victims in a march through the streets of their town to
    remember those who died in the tragedy.

    Hundreds turned out for the march, led by Michele
    Fricheteau, the manager of the hotel into which the Concorde
    crashed.

    They gathered at the local town hall, to sign a condolence
    book before moving off.
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