On
November 6, 2002,
Luxair Flight 9642 (also known as
Lufthansa Flight 2420) was en route from Berlin's
Tempelhof Airport to Findel Airport in
Luxembourg. At approximately 10:10am local time, the plane crashed along the Trêves Highway in
Niederanven, just six nautical miles short of Findel's Runway 24. There was no indication of trouble from recent radio contact, but the area was covered in dense fog. Later investigation of the
flight data recorder indicated power had cut off, and that at the
moment of impact the engines were not receiving any power.
The airplane was a
Fokker F-50 that began service in July 1991. On board were nineteen passengers -
German,
French, and
Luxembourgish - and three crew members (all Luxembourgish), and when
emergency responders reached the scene there were five survivors. Three died en route to the hospital, leaving just the captain and a French passenger alive from the twenty-two on board.
Luxair immediately began to reach out to the families of the victims, establishing special
hotline numbers for both families and the media. Later that evening, a plane carried passengers from
Berlin to Luxembourg, and the day after the accident, families were allowed to visit the site of the crash. When the state's
Ministry for Interior Affairs released the bodies of the victims, Luxair assisted the
next-of-kin with transporting them home. The company's insurer,
Deutscher Luftpool, promised each family would receive approximately 20,000
Euros in about two weeks. Memorial services were held on the very next Sunday at the
Luxembourg City Cathedral, and then the following Wednesday at Berlin's
Gedächtniskirche.
Both survivors were badly injured, and immediately entered
surgery upon arrival at the hospital. Within a couple of days, the passenger's condition had improved and the captain was listed as
stable; both were still in the
Intensive Care Unit. In addition to
medical care, they also received psychological counseling, which was also available to the families and to any Luxair employees that desired it.
List of Victims
Günther Bock (German)
Joachim Charle (German)
Jürgen Herman (German)
Josef Heiber (German)
Markus Klann (German)
Olaf Knispel (German)
Marcus Kuhn (German)
Dieter Leiber (German)
Michel Majerus (Luxembourgish)
Kristine Olinger (Luxembourgish)
Jörg Oltmanns (German)
Michael Petzhold (German)
Ulrich Pietsch (German)
Siegfried Scheef (German)
Alexandre Schmoll (German)
Robert Schriever (German)
Lothar Spizter (German)
Claude Thenus (French)
John Arendt (Luxembourgish -
pilot, buried in Luxembourg on
November 13, 2002)
Paula Dos Reis (Luxembourgish -
flight attendant, buried in Portugal on
November 12, 2002)
Sources
http://www.luxair.lu/en/inside/lg9642.jsp
http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi_bin/view_details.cgi?date=11062002&airline=Luxair
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