- Title: GERMANY: INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE INTO CAUSE OF MID-AIR PLANE COLLISION.
- Date: 3rd July 2002
- Summary: (U5) BRACHENREUSE, GERMANY (JULY 3, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. GV.TILT/CU: FIELD, PAN DOWN TO TYRE; TAG ON TYRE, IDENTIFYING IT AS A PIECE OF THE WRECKAGE AND WHERE IT WAS FOUND (2 SHOTS) 0.17 2. LV/GV/MV/PAN: PIECES OF AIRPLANE WRECKAGE ARE LIFTED OUT OF FIELD BY CRANE; RESCUE WORKERS WALKING THROUGH FIELD (6 SHOTS) 1.32 3. GV: POLICE VANS AND HEARSE ARRIVES; BLACK VAN LEAVES SITE; HEARSE LEAVES SITE (4 SHOTS) 2.15 4. LV/GV/PAN: HELICOPTER FLYING OVER WRECKAGE SITE; WRECKAGE LIFTED BY CRANE; POLICE VANS LEAVING (3 SHOTS) 3.16 (U5) FRICKINGEN, GERMANY (JULY 3, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 5. SCU/PAN/GV: SIGN "COLLECTION POINT", PAN TO INSIDE OF GYMNASIUM 3.24 6. VARIOUS: PLASTIC BAGS ON FLOOR CONTAINING PIECES OF LUGGAGE AND PERSONAL ITEMS OF VICTIMS; SCU PURSE IN PLASTIC BAG; SCU HAIR CLIP IN PLASTIC BAG; MV LUGGAGE; SCU KNAPSACK; SCU KEYS AND CASH IN PLASTIC BAG; MV ZOOM IN ON SUITCASE WITH PLASTIC BAG CONTAINING RUSSIAN TRAVEL GUIDEBOOK FOR SPAIN; SCU PASSPORT; WIDE OF GYMNASIUM (9 SHOTS) 4.20 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 18th July 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BRACHENREUSE AND FRICKINGEN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA5BFX31XNZ38768VHKIDU7NBIC
- Story Text: German teams have resumed the hunt for clues to the
cause of a mid-air crash that killed a planeload of Russian
children, but officials have already started apportioning
blame.
The collision of a Russian passenger plane and a
DHL cargo jet late on Monday (July 1, 2002) killed 71 people,
including 52 children and teenagers. Most of the children, en
route for a holiday in Spain, were on the charter plane
because they had missed an earlier flight.
Rescuers have found 28 bodies from the collision between
the Tupolev 154 and a Boeing 757 cargo plane, which left the
resort of Lake Constance strewn with bodies and burning
debris.
The teams recovered the flight recorder of the Boeing late
on Tuesday (July 2), police said. German crash investigators
were to examine both data recorders, which could provide vital
clues to the cause of one of Germany's worst air disasters,
later on Wednesday (July 3).
Swiss air traffic controllers, in charge of Lake Constance
airspace, said the Tupolev reacted too slowly to their orders
to drop to a lower altitude.
They said the Russian pilot received Swiss orders to
descend a "good minute" before the collision. German Transport
Minister Kurt Bodewig said the warning was given 50 to 60
seconds before the crash. Bashkirian Airlines denied the
Tupolev crew had made any mistakes.
A crash investigation team began sifting through the
rubble which is strewn over a large area. Several pieces of
luggage and items belonging to the victims have been bagged
and brought to a central collection point. Relatives are
expected to arrive in southern Germany to claim the luggage
and the bodies starting on Thursday (July 4).
The two planes were flying at an altitude of 35,300 feet
above Ueberlingen at the northwest end of Lake Constance when
they collided, Swiss air traffic controllers said. They said
it was only on the third instruction that the Russian pilot
had begun to reduce altitude to avoid collision.
By the time the Tu-154 began to descend, the Boeing 757
was also diving, apparently instructed to do so by its
on-board collision-avoidance system.
Bashkirian Airlines said its plane had also been fitted
with the system, known as TCAS, prompting a debate as to
whether one of the pilots had ignored the system's guidance.
The Bashkirian Airlines airliner was bound for Barcelona,
Spain. The cargo plane, operated by DHL Worldwide Express,
originated in Bahrain and had taken off from Bergamo in Italy.
There were 69 Russians on board the seven-year-old Tupolev
and a crew of two, a Briton and a Canadian, on the Boeing 757
bound for Brussels. No one on the ground was injured.
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