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Old February 25th 04, 05:31 AM
HECTOP
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Default Skyguide traffic controller killed

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/02/1077659102.html

An assailant stabbed to death the air traffic controller who was on duty
when two planes collided over southern Germany in July 2002, killing 71
people, Swiss police said on Tuesday.

The 36-year old Danish national, whose name was unavailable, was employed by
Skyguide, the Swiss air traffic control in charge of monitoring parts of
Germany's airspace just across the border from Switzerland.

A spokesman for Skyguide said the man had been in charge of monitoring air
traffic in the region around Lake Constance when the two planes -- a Tupolev
TU154 operated by Bashkirian Airlines and a Boeing 757 cargo plane operated
by DHL -- collided in mid-air.

The victims were mostly Russian children. Zurich police said in a statement
an unknown man had called on the air traffic controller at his home outside
Zurich and, after a short verbal exchange, stabbed him to death.

A spokesman said it was "totally open" whether the crime was in any way
related to the air disaster. He said police were still looking for the
assailant, described as a dark-haired man in his early 50s who was speaking
"broken German".

Skyguide has been criticized for its role in the air accident after
investigators revealed that only one controller was on duty when it
happened, while his partner was on a break.

Investigators also said the agency's collision alert system was out of
action for maintenance, and work on its telephone system meant a warning
call from German colleagues never got through.

In a statement released just days after the accident, the air traffic
controller had acknowledged that errors in the traffic control network
contributed to the disaster.

(Reuters)




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