Germanwings memorial ceremony
July 24, 2015
More than 300 people gathered in the small French town of Le Vernet for a ceremony on Friday commemorating the 150 people who died during the Germanwings crash on March 24.
The guests will attend an interfaith ceremony at the memorial stone that was erected shortly after the crash. Another ceremony was held on Thursday night, in which the remains of victims who were unable to be identified were laid to rest.
All remains that could be identified by French police have been returned to the countries of origin with one exception, according to Steffen Rudolph, the ombudsman for relatives of the victims appointed by the German government.
Lufthansa has organized transport for relatives to the crash site, among other things scheduling two special flights from Düsseldorf and Barcelona.
Deliberate crash
Germanwings Flight 4U9525 crashed into a mountainside near Le Vernet on March 24, while flying from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. Investigators have concluded that the plane's co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, deliberately flew into the ground, killing all 144 passengers and six crew members, including himself.
Around half of the victims were German. Other passengers came from Spain, Britain, Denmark, Australia, the United States, Israel, Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Japan and the Netherlands.
In the past few days, lawyers representing the relatives of victims have been involved with Lufthansa in a public row over the amount of compensation. The airline has insisted that its offer goes "well beyond" what it is legally bound to pay.
tj/kms (dpa, AFP)