GERMANY: GERMAN INVESTIGATORS RESUME HUNT FOR CLUES TO CAUSE OF MID-AIR CRASH THAT KILLED PLANELOAD OF RUSSIAN CHILDREN

Record ID: 649294

  • Title: GERMANY: GERMAN INVESTIGATORS RESUME HUNT FOR CLUES TO CAUSE OF MID-AIR CRASH THAT KILLED PLANELOAD OF RUSSIAN CHILDREN
  • Date: 4th July 2002
  • Summary: (U3) TAISERDORF, GERMANY (JULY 3, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV ZOOM IN TUPLOEV WRECKAGE WITH POLICE IN FIELD (5 SHOTS) 0.38 2. MV RUSSIAN CRASH INVESTIGATORS ARRIVE, GET INTO CAR, CAR DRIVES OFF (6 SHOTS) 1.49 (U3) OWINGEN, GERMANY (JULY 3, 2002) (REUTERS) 3. MV FLOWERS AT SIDE OF FIELD, RESIDENTS LOOKING ON; MV POLICE AND FLOWERS; SCU WOODEN SIGN SAYING '351'; MV DEBRIS (5 SHOTS) 2.43 4. SLV EXTERIOR MEDICAL CENTRE 2.47 5. (SOUNDBITE) (German) PSYCHOLOGIST, KNUD EIKE BUCHMANN, SAYING "It's a very shocking experience. You may have heard yesterday that a police car almost ran over a dead child lying in the street. It's simply unbelievable, how these children are lying in the street. We have, for example, a house, where one of the engines and landing gear smasehd against a wall. If you see that, then you will see what the couple, these people, have experienced. Those are just a few examples. Please think of the places the bodies were found, it is an unbelievably large psychological trauma that people have to deal with." 3.18 6. SLV EMERGENCY VEHICLE OUTSIDE OF MEDICAL BUILDING; PEOPLE WAITING 3.25 7. MV GROUP OF PEOPLE, ONE MAN ON THE LEFT, BELIEVED TO BE THE FATHER OF ONE OF THE CHILDREN RUBBING HIS EYE; GROUP OF PEOPLE WAITING (3 SHOTS) 3.36 (U3) UEBERLINGEN, GERMANY (JULY 3, 2002) (REUTERS) 8. SLV/LAS STREET WITH BLACK MOURNING BAND HANGING FROM GERMAN FLAG (2 SHOTS) 3.47 9. SLV INTERIOR OF CHURCH WITH CANDLES BURNING 4.00 10. SLV PAN LAKE CONSTANCE AND BOATS 4.16 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 19th July 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: TAISERDORF, OWINGEN AND UEBERLINGEN, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Reuters ID: LVA3FLIYH325TV2F5BW2FXGZ4CRR
  • 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.

    In Ueberlingen, close to the crash site, psychiatrists
    have begun counselling victims' families and members of the
    public who experienced the disaster from the ground.

    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 a
    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.

    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.

    In the meantime, on the ground in Germany, a team of
    mental health experts has begun to counsel those involved in
    the recovery effort, as well as members of the public.

    "It's a very shocking experience. You may have heard
    yesterday that a police car almost ran over a dead child lying
    in the street. It's simply unbelievable," said Knud Eike
    Buchmann, a psychiatrist on the scene.

    "We have, for example, a house, where one of the engines
    and landing gear smashed against a wall. If you see that, then
    you will see what the couple, these people have experienced.

    It is an unbelievably large psychological trauma that people
    have to deal with," he added.

    The families of the Russian victims are expected to arrive
    in southern Germany on Wednesday.

    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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