Accusers round on Swiss air controller

After a day scrambling for excuses and revising figures, Swiss air traffic control officials tonight conceded that they told the pilot of a Russian charter jet to reduce altitude and avert a mid-air collision less than one minute before it smashed into an oncoming cargo plane.

The two planes both were making a fatal descent from 36,000 feet to 35,000 feet when the accident happened the Russian plane in response to urgent orders from Swiss air traffic control and the cargo plane in response to its on-board collision avoidance system.