France remembers Concorde’s dead on first anniversary

With long and tearful hugs, family members and friends gathered under a scorching sun today to remember the 113 people who died when an Air France Concorde crashed in a Paris suburb exactly one year ago.

About 200 people tossed flowers at the spot where the supersonic jet slammed into a hotel in Gonesse.

Boys skipped or played with the flowers as their parents stared at the tattered concrete foundation, all that remains of the Hotelissmo.

‘‘We had to come back here,’’ said Sarah Bodrelot, who was a receptionist at the hotel, where four people died. ‘‘We needed to get through this step.’’

Police cordoned off the site so family and friends could mourn without disruption. One grieving woman collapsed when she entered. She was helped to her feet by other visitors and an ambulance team stationed nearby.

About 150 Gonesse residents and civic leaders honoured the victims at a separate wreath-laying ceremony earlier in the day.

With news that the Concorde would likely enter service again in the autumn, emotions were mixed.

‘‘Every morning at 11:25, I saw it flying,’’ said Micheline de Breuil, 70, from nearby Sarcelles, who held three roses. ‘‘That beauty with its delta wings, it was something magic. The day that it flies again, I’ll raise my glass of champagne.’’

‘‘One crash is no reason to set aside the plane forever,’’ said Bernard Soyer, of nearby Maronnier.

But the mayor of Gonesse said he wanted more questions answered before the Concorde resumes flight.

‘‘I don’t think we have enough assurances,’’ Jean-Pierre Blazy said. ‘‘We’re not against the Concorde, but we cannot act as if this accident did not happen.’’

French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot said that, ‘‘if all goes well,’’ the supersonic airliner would return to the skies in early autumn.

‘‘I can assure you that I will be the first civilian passenger on board,’’ he said.

Trailing flames from its wings, the needle-nosed plane plunged into the hotel minutes after taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris. All 100 passengers, nine crew members and four people on the ground were killed.

Investigators believe one of the tyres of the Concorde burst after running over a stray metal strip on the runway. The explosion sent rubber debris hurtling toward fuel tanks, prompting a fuel leak and fire that brought the plane down.

The 12 remaining Concordes have been grounded since the crash. Air France and British Airways, the only two airlines that fly Concordes, have made safety modifications to their fleets and are conducting test flights.