A court in Dusseldorf has ordered the Dusseldorf Airport authorities to pay out over $11m in damages following a fire at the airport in April last year in which 17 people died and over 60 were injured. This report from Janet Barrie in Berlin:

The court in Dusseldorf judged the airport's building contractors negligent in fitting flammable materials in the ceilings and walls of the airport building. The fire was caused by sparks from welding equipment igniting the material, and in the poisonous fumes that enveloped the arrivals hall 17 people died and over 60 were injured.

The case was brought by four insurance companies who had compensated businesses within the airport building for damage caused by the fire. They have now managed to win back some of that money.

German state prosecutors said in their investigations at the time they believed the fire was caused because the airport authorities failed to follow correct safety procedures. The airport itself admitted failures and delays in preventing and dealing with the fire.