Swiss firm admits air crash blame

Most of those killed in the air crash were Russian schoolchildren

The Swiss air traffic control firm Skyguide has accepted full responsibility for the errors that led to a mid-air collision in 2002.

Seventy-one people, mostly Russian schoolchildren, died when a Russian airliner and a cargo plane collided.

Skyguide's statement came after German investigators said in a final report that a single controller on duty gave the pilots just 43 seconds to act.

The controller was fatally stabbed this year in a suspected revenge attack.

"Skyguide assumes full responsibility for its errors and asks relatives of the 71 victims for forgiveness," the non-profit company which is majority-owned by the Swiss government, said in the statement.

Swiss President Joseph Deiss apologised in a letter to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for the "immense suffering" caused by the accident.

Critical errors

Technical problems and staffing levels were criticised in the report by the investigators in Germany, where the planes came down.

The controller, Danish national Peter Nielsen, was on duty alone in the Zurich control on 1 July 2002 room, as his colleague was taking a break, the report said.

This accident happened because many actions and failures to act came together that, viewed on their own, might only have a small significance for air safety German investigators

He had not been told that a collision-avoidance system at Zurich was not fully working as maintenance was being carried out.

The delay in noticing that the two planes could collide led to a series of critical errors, the report said.

The controller told the Russian pilots to descend, while their onboard-collision avoidance system had told them to climb to avoid the DHL cargo plane.

The Russians followed the controller's instructions and dived into the cargo jet which was descending in accordance with its own collision-avoidance equipment.

"This accident happened because many actions and failures to act came together that, viewed on their own, might only have a small significance for air safety," the German investigators said.

Controller stabbed

In its statement, Skyguide said it had already begun implementing most of the recommendations contained in the report.

"Lessons have been learned from this tragedy, and we are doing our best to make sure this doesn't happen again," Skyguide's chief executive Alain Rossier said.

But some critics claim Switzerland's air-traffic control system cannot change without new management, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Zurich says.

She adds that the company's admittance of responsibility may not be enough for the families of the children who died.

Many are still waiting for compensation.

In February, Swiss police arrested Russian architect Vitaly Kaloyev after Mr Nielsen was fatally stabbed outside his Zurich home.

Mr Kaloyev's wife, son and daughter died in the crash. Mr Kaloyev, who denies the killing, is being held at a Swiss psychiatric clinic and has not been charged.

The victims included 52 Russian schoolchildren, most of them sons and daughters of the wealthy elite of the Russian republic of Bashkortostan in the southern Urals region.