Air traffic agency staff charged over plane crash

Eight employees of the Swiss air traffic control company have been charged with negligent homicide in a 2002 plane collision that killed 71 people over southern Germany, the district attorney in nearby Winterthur said today.

All of the employees, whose identities were undisclosed, have denied any responsibility for the collision of a Russian passenger jet and a cargo plane in the airspace under the control of Skyguide, said the statement by District Attorney Bernhard Hecht.