Germany Mourns Concorde Victims

B E R L I N, July 26 -- Germany is in shock over the Concorde crash that claimed the lives of nearly 100 of its citizens who were en route to a dream cruise on the other side of the world.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder attended a hastily arranged memorial service in a dark-walled chapel on the grounds of the World’s Fair in Hanover,where the Cabinet was holding its last regular meeting before summer break.

Schroeder extended his deepest sympathies to all the families. “Today Germany is shaken,” he said. “Germany is stunned.”

Air France Flight AF4590, carrying 100 passengers and a crew of nine, slammed into a hotel just outside Paris and exploded shortly after takeoff Tuesday, killing 113 — including four on the ground. The Concorde was en route to New York, where passengers were to meet up with the cruise ship Deutschland.

The memorial service, led by a Protestant and a Roman Catholic bishop, was carried live on Germany’s national television network. The two religious leaders spoke of “the silent cries of the dead.”

“We think of those who flew off on vacation full of hopes and expectations, and how they were dragged into terror and death,” Evangelical Bishop Horst Hirschler said. “How can this happen?”

Catholic Bishop Josef Holmeier asked, “God, where were you in Paris?”

Flags across the country were lowered to half-staff, and some television announcers on the morning newscasts wore black. Crisis centers were set up at the Munich and Duesseldorf airports. A memorial service was planned for Thursday in the Baltic port town of Neustadt in Holstein, where the cruise ship company is based.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair have sent messages of condolence to Schroeder.

113 Lost Lives

The Foreign Ministry identified the victims booked for the charter flight as 49 men, 47 women and three children. All were from Germany except for two Danes and an Austrian. The list was broken down by states, but a spokeswoman today said no further identifying information would be released.