A Tu 154 passenger jet of the Bashkir Airlines collided with a cargo Boeing in the small hours, July 2, 2002. The tragedy took 71 lives-the two Boeing pilots and all 69 on board the Tu, among them 45 Bashkir children who were going for a summer vacation to Spain.
The crash was in the responsibility area of the Swiss-based SkyGuide flight control service. It had only one officer on duty the fatal night, while regulations demand two. German controllers could not reach the Swiss on the phone, which was out of order, as they saw the two planes getting dangerously close.
SkyGuide attempted to whitewash itself immediately after the crash to shift the blame on the dead Russian pilots. They misunderstood the controller's English-language orders, the company alleged.
As Germany's Air Accident Investigation Bureau published its report last May, SkyGuide admitted its guilt and apologized to the bereaved. That same day, May 19, Josef Deiss, Swiss Federal President, addressed Russia's President Vladimir Putin, with an official message of apologies.
Friends and relations of the 45 dead kids sent an open letter to President Deiss, late last March, to accuse Switzerland of "inhuman and cynical conduct" after the crash as it brought no official apologies for a tragedy "caused by a doubtless error of SkyGuide."
The murder of Peter Nilsen, controller on duty, came as one more proof of the Swiss guilt, said the letter. "One death sent the SkyGuide personnel into a profound shock while 71 deaths left them totally indifferent in July 2002."
Peter Nilsen was stabbed dead in his home in Kloten, Zurich suburb, February 24. Vitaly Kaloyev, prime suspect, lost all his near and dear-wife, son and daughter-in the Lake Constance crash.
As for damages, SkyGuide insists on the matter settled outside the courtroom, while many of the bereaved are anxious to litigate as they find the offered sums too small.
SkyGuide is willing to pay $150,000 to every victim's relations, says the Stuttgarter Nachrichten.
