The victim’s family marks a decade since the crash of German wing aircraft in the French Alps
BERLIN (AP) – Hundreds of victims’ families will be commemorated on Monday of the crash of the 9525 flight in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.
The plane departed in Barcelona, Spain on the morning of March 24, 2015 and was supposed to land in Dusseldorf, Germany in a few hours. But it never came because investigators said the plane was deliberately knocked down by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz.
The victims included a group of 15 students and two teachers from Haltern Am High School, a small town in western Germany, who headed home to Spain from a swap trip.
There are also two babies, a famous German opera singer and a member of an Argentine rock band, three generations of the same family, a mother and son on vacation, recently married couple, people on business trips and others returning home.
The memorial ceremony was planned at 10:41 am – the moment of the crash – many students were lost in German high school and many students were lost in the village of Le Vernet, France near the mountain crash site.
In the north, high school students will lay white roses for victims and the town’s bells will ring.
“Everyone has no family that has not been affected in their circle of friends or relatives,” high school principal Christian Krahl told the German news agency DPA.
Many family members also travel to Levinette. Lufthansa, which owns German wings, invites relatives of the victims to a village near the crash site every year, and 300 mourners are expected to attend this year’s memorial service, DPA reported.
Memorials are also planned at airports in Dusseldorf and Barcelona. DPA reports that at Düsseldorf Airport, a book of condolences was provided in the silent room of so-called staff and travelers.
The crash shocked and raised suspicion when investigators revealed that co-pilot Lubitz locked the flight captain in the cockpit and deliberately paired the plane with a hillside collision.
Rubiz had suffered from depression in the past, but authorities and his airline later considered him suitable for flights. In the months leading up to the crash, Lubitz suffered from insomnia and feared losing his vision, but he hid it from his employer.
“This state of shock, the sympathy of all residents for their families is deeply sympathized with, and the question of why this happens is still with us today,” North Mayor Andreas Stegemann told DPA.
“German wing crashes are a permanent part of our town’s history,” he said.
