Flight Attendant Dies After Swiss Emergency Landing in Graz

The airline announced this on Monday evening. Swiss CEO Jens Fehlinger expressed himself as "deeply saddened and stunned", his board colleague responsible for operations, Oliver Buchhofer, stated: "It is a black day for all of us." The Graz public prosecutor's office ordered an autopsy.

Autopsy of the 23-Year-Old Ordered

Swiss COO Buchhofer emphasized that the company is now doing everything possible, "together with the responsible authorities, to find the causes. We have many questions and want answers to them." As the Styria State Police Directorate announced late in the evening, the Graz public prosecutor's office has already ordered the seizure of the body and a forensic autopsy of the 23-year-old man.

The public prosecutor's office had previously initiated an investigation to clarify the cause of the accident. As authority spokesman Hansjörg Bacher explained on APA request, an aviation expert was appointed. The expert is to determine why there was such strong smoke development in the machine that started in Bucharest that an abortion of the flight was necessary. Investigations are currently being carried out for negligent bodily harm, whereby the final criminal assessment depends largely on the results of the expert's report, as Bacher said.

Second Crew Member Was Able to Leave Hospital

The now deceased cabin crew member had been in critical condition in the intensive care unit. A second crew member, who was also recently treated at the LKH University Hospital Graz, has now been able to leave the hospital. Due to the smoke development, a total of four crew members (including both pilots) and 13 passengers were brought to the hospital for treatment, with most only suffering minor injuries.

Extensive Investigations After Emergency Landing of Swiss Aircraft

So far, there are no details about the exact cause: "We want to fully clarify the causes of the smoke development and the effects on passengers and our crew. Such investigations are complex and require access to all data and technical information. This is not yet the case today, as the authorities in Austria are in charge of the primary investigation," said Swiss.

On board the Airbus A220-300, there were 74 passengers and five crew members during the flight incident on the evening of December 23. The flight was number LX1885 from Bucharest to Zurich. The cockpit crew decided to abort the flight to ensure the safety of the passengers and the crew, according to Swiss.

"Previously Unknown Error Pattern" on Engine

Initial analyses point to a "previously unknown error pattern" on an engine, Swiss wrote in an internal message. A spokeswoman for the airline confirmed the content of the memo to the Keystone-SDA news agency on Tuesday. It said that the engine had "suddenly and unexpectedly failed".

The affected engine will be dismantled in Graz and taken to the USA, according to the spokeswoman. There, it will be examined by the manufacturer Pratt & Whitney together with the authorities. "This can take some time," said the Swiss spokeswoman.

However, the crew's protective equipment, which is used in the event of smoke development, is also likely to be examined. This was reported by the aviation magazine "Austrian Wings" citing the Swiss newspaper "Zürcher Unterländer". Accordingly, the cabin crew would have Protective Breathing Equipment (PBE) available, so-called escape hoods, which are pulled over the head. Already a year ago, Swiss had found that the PBE was partially faulty and needed to be replaced. But since there are almost 1,000 such masks in Swiss aircraft, the exchange will take some time. Which equipment was used on the affected flight was initially unclear.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.