Ceremonies Held to Commemorate Victims of Germanwings Plane Crash
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hundreds of people in Spain and Germany took part in anniversary vigils to mark the Germanwings tragedy in which a suicidal pilot crashed a plane into a mountainside, killing all 150 on board, including two Iranian sports journalists.
Ceremonies were held Wednesday at the airports in Barcelona from where the ill-fated plane took off on March 24, 2015, and in Düsseldorf, its intended destination in western Germany.
Milad Hojjatoleslami, the Tasnim News Agency's sports correspondent, and Hossein Javadi, a reporter with Iran's Vatan-e Emruz Daily, were among the victims of the crash.
They had travelled to Barcelona to cover a match between Spain's Real Madrid C.F. and FC Barcelona. They then left the Spanish city to cover the Iranian National Team's friendlies with Chile in Austria and Sweden in Stockholm.
Plaques in memory of those killed when the airline went down in the French Alps were unveiled at both airports, according to The Local.
Dozens of relatives of the 50 Spanish victims, many dressed in black, attended the ceremony outside of Barcelona's Terminal 2 on the eve of the tragedy's first anniversary.
They were joined by emergency services workers who took part in the rescue operation as well as top officials including Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
"Transportation security must continue to be one of our main priorities," Rajoy said.
Flags flew at half-mast and 149 candles were lit in memory of the passengers and crew who were killed.
Investigators said German co-pilot Andreas Lubitz waited until he was alone in the cockpit shortly after the flight took off then deliberately crashed the plane.
The 27-year-old had previously been treated for depression and suicidal tendencies and documents seized by prosecutors show he partly hid his medical history from employers.
"We want to avoid the repetition of catastrophes of this nature," said Silvia Chaves, who heads an association for the Spanish victims.
At Düsseldorf airport's main terminal, family members of the 72 German victims gathered in a "quiet room" which had been dedicated to the memory of 17 people killed in a fire at the airport in 1996.
Some 600 family and friends of victims of the doomed Germanwings flight will also attend a ceremony in the French Alps on Thursday to mark the year anniversary of the crash.
The ceremony will take place in Vernet village near where the plane went down. No government officials will take part in what is expected to be completely private memorial.
"The families do not wish for their pain to be filmed," said local French official Bernard Guerin.
Plans to take relatives to visit the crash site by minibus were called off because bad weather has made the forest road leading to it impassable.
Around 80 people, aided by volunteer firefighters and mountain guides, will however climb on foot to the site, which is at an altitude of some 1,500 metres (4,900 feet).
The pilot's family will not be present.
At the ceremony, the names of all 149 victims will be read out followed by a minute of silence which will take place at 0941 GMT, the exact moment of the crash. A wreath will also be laid at the Vernet cemetery where the remains of unidentified body parts were buried.