After the death of a Swiss steward after the emergency landing in Graz, the Graz public prosecutor’s office is investigating the circumstances. His breathing mask may have been defective. The airline refers to the ongoing investigations: they do not want to speculate.
It was the day before Christmas Eve when thick smoke formed in the cabin of an Airbus A220-300 aircraft of the Swiss airline Swiss en route from Bucharest to Zurich due to a problem with the left engine. After twenty minutes of steep descent, the pilots managed to make an emergency landing in Graz.
First death in history
The incident was not without consequences: twelve of the 74 passengers had to seek medical attention. Two of the five crew members were taken to hospital. A young stewardess from the canton of Zurich died. It was the first death of a crew member as a result of an operation in Switzerland’s history.
Now the focus is on the airline’s respirators after the dead man – at least according to the current state of the investigation – was the only one wearing a mask so far. Swiss spokesman Markus Pelzer, who is bombarded daily by international media, refers to the ongoing investigations.
He left the question about the masks unanswered: “We don’t want to speculate.” But: ‘We don’t rule anything out.’ No information will be provided until we have confirmed the information. We are in close contact with the Public Prosecution Service and the Federal Security Investigation Service, “and we fully support the authorities.”
Replace death machine motor
The affected aircraft has now been fitted with a replacement engine in Graz – the original is being checked by the manufacturer in the US. The machine will be transferred to Zurich later this week, where work will continue.
“This includes a thorough check of the systems during a flight that takes place without passengers. We cannot say with certainty at this time when we will resume the aircraft in question for regular flights,” said Swiss spokesman Markus Pelzer. Not even when the investigations have all been completed.
Source: Krone
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