Bucharest-Zurich flight: a Swiss crew member dies
Keystone-SDA
Generated with artificial intelligence.
One week after the emergency landing of a Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) plane in Austria, a crew member died on Monday in a hospital in Graz. The local public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation.
The young man was a member of the cabin crew of the SWISS flight LX1885, which was en route from Bucharest to Zurich on December 23 when it had to make an emergency landing in Graz due to smoke in the cockpit and cabin.
Since the emergency landing, the man had been in intensive care at Graz hospital.
In an airline statement on Monday evening, SWISS CEO Jens Fehlinger and COO Oliver Buchhofer said it was a “dark day”. Citing respect for the deceased’s next of kin, they did not give further information about the cause of death or the victim.
A second crew member, who was also taken to Graz University Hospital after the incident, has since been discharged.
Some 74 passengers and five crew members were on board the flight. After the emergency landing, passengers left the aircraft using evacuation slides. Twelve passengers and all crew members received medical treatment, according to SWISS.
A spokesman for the Graz public prosecutor’s office said the aim of the investigation was to clarify the causes of the accident. As such, an expert will try to determine why the plane emitted so much smoke that the flight had to be aborted.
The investigation is currently focusing on negligent bodily harm, said the spokesman.
No information has yet been released on the exact cause of the incident. According to initial findings, a technical fault in one of the engines was the likely source of the problem, SWISS said. The aircraft and engine manufacturers have both been informed, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA).
Airbus A220 models have experienced engine issues on several occasions in the past. SWISS has also been affected; the subsidiary of Lufthansa has 30 A220s in its fleet, including 21 long-haul and nine short-haul versions.
Adapted from French by DeepL/dos
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