Greek God
23rd Jun 2006, 10:18
Vienna: A pilot whose helicopter dropped heavy equipment onto a ski lift in Austria last year, killing nine Germans, was yesterday convicted of criminal negligence and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
A court in the alpine city of Innsbruck delivered the verdict against Markus Jaeger, 36, who had pleaded innocent to two counts for causing public endangerment and bodily harm. Six children aged 12 to 14 and three adults were killed on September 5 near the popular resort of Soelden, about 480km west of Vienna.
Jaeger had faced up to five years in prison.
He told the court earlier yesterday he was "very, very sorry about what happened", but denied that he may have pushed a wrong button by mistake, allowing a mechanical hook beneath the helicopter to release a tub weighing nearly 700kg used to transport concrete.
The tub hit the cable car below, sending one of its gondolas plunging 30 metres onto a rocky mountainside. Other victims were catapulted out of two other gondolas. Seven people survived their injuries.
Jaeger, who worked for a helicopter company based in Salzburg, said he had seen no problem with his chosen flying route, which brought him over the ski lift.
"It was, from my point of view, the best possible route," Jaeger testified. All other routes would have been "unthinkable" because there were people everywhere on the slopes and paths, he said.
Some 30 relatives of the victims, some dressed in black mourning clothes, were present for yesterday's trial, which lasted only a few hours.
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Austria/10048822.html
A court in the alpine city of Innsbruck delivered the verdict against Markus Jaeger, 36, who had pleaded innocent to two counts for causing public endangerment and bodily harm. Six children aged 12 to 14 and three adults were killed on September 5 near the popular resort of Soelden, about 480km west of Vienna.
Jaeger had faced up to five years in prison.
He told the court earlier yesterday he was "very, very sorry about what happened", but denied that he may have pushed a wrong button by mistake, allowing a mechanical hook beneath the helicopter to release a tub weighing nearly 700kg used to transport concrete.
The tub hit the cable car below, sending one of its gondolas plunging 30 metres onto a rocky mountainside. Other victims were catapulted out of two other gondolas. Seven people survived their injuries.
Jaeger, who worked for a helicopter company based in Salzburg, said he had seen no problem with his chosen flying route, which brought him over the ski lift.
"It was, from my point of view, the best possible route," Jaeger testified. All other routes would have been "unthinkable" because there were people everywhere on the slopes and paths, he said.
Some 30 relatives of the victims, some dressed in black mourning clothes, were present for yesterday's trial, which lasted only a few hours.
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Austria/10048822.html