Dusseldorf airport must pay fire compensation

A German court has ordered the Dusseldorf Airport authorities to pay $11 million in compensation for a fire at the airport in April last year.

Seventeen people were killed and over sixty injured.

The ruling relates to a claim by insurance companies which reimbursed businesses in the airport building damaged by the fire.

The fire was caused by sparks from welding equipment igniting inflammable materials in the ceilings and walls.

The court found building contractors negligent.

The airport itself admitted failures and delays in preventing and dealing with the fire, including an acknowledgment that the wrong evacuation message was played, directing passengers into the Arrivals lounge where the fire was blazing.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service