Relatives commemorate Halifax crash
Bouquets and single red roses were laid at a memorial in Nova Scotia on Tuesday to remember the 229 victims of Switzerland's worst aviation disaster ten years ago.
Some 60 relatives of those killed in the Swissair plane crash – mainly Swiss, French and American – gathered at the monument in Bayswater, Nova Scotia.
A heart-shaped rock for each victim was placed at the memorial. The flight, bound for Geneva, left New York on the evening of September 2, 1998.
The plane crashed off the coast of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, a little over an hour later as it tried to land at Halifax airport after the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit. There were no survivors.
An investigation into the crash by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board blamed flammable insulation that allowed a small electrical fire to spread uncontrolled, melting the cockpit ceiling, shorting out all power and leaving the crew helpless to avert the disaster.
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