Criminal charges possible in mid air disaster

Swiss prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the collision between two airliners that killed 71 people 35,000ft above southern Germany.

Meanwhile, with all but two of the dead recovered, officials today began clearing twisted wreckage from fields and forests around Lake Constance.

When the Russian airliner collided with the DHL cargo jet - flown by a British father of three - just before midnight on Monday, only one air traffic controller was on duty at the control tower in Switzerland.

The dead included 45 Russian children heading for a beach holiday in Spain.

A German-led inquiry found that the Russian pilot was only given 44 seconds warning to change his altitude before the crash.

The investigations turned fresh attention on Swiss air traffic control, and prompted prosecutors in Zurich to open an inquiry on suspicion of negligent manslaughter and negligent disruption of public transport.

The aim is to establish if any actions by Swiss air traffic control could prompt criminal charges, said a spokesman for the prosecutors. A negligent manslaughter conviction carries a maximum penalty of three years in jail.

Germany’s chief investigator on the case, Peter Schlegel, said expert analysis of radio tapes now show the first warning came only 44 seconds before impact, and added that the Russian plane did not actually begin to descend until a second warning was given only 30 seconds before the

collision.

The planes collided when the DHL Boeing descended at the same time after being prompted to dive by its on-board anti-collision system.

Schlegel dismissed a report by Russian news agencies that the Russian pilot had asked controllers which way he should turn but did not receive an answer until 40 seconds before impact.

Relatives and parents of the 45 children headed home yesterday to Russia’s Bashkortostan region after visiting the crash site.

Before leaving, they wept and stood in prayer around one of the largest pieces, the upended tail fin and three engines of the Tu-154 plane that landed in a sloping meadow overlooking Lake Constance on the Swiss border.

They propped seven large wreaths around the wreck, and some tucked roses in the cracked metal or placed them inside the scorched engine intakes.

An Orthodox priest and a Muslim clergyman - representing the two most widespread faiths in Bashkortostan - led the prayers.

They had flown in earlier in the day from the region’s capital Ufa, where many of the students were high achievers from the best schools.