Video| Airline found guilty of Paris Concorde crash

The US airline Continental has been found ‘criminally responsible’ over the fatal Concorde crash which occurred in Paris 10 years ago.

6 December 2010, 12:00am

1 min read

The infamous July 2000 plane crash killed all 109 people on boards together with another four on the ground.

99 out of the 113 people killed were German tourists.

The crash took place just minutes after taking off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris heading to New York.

According to the French prosecutors, the Air France Concorde was forced to crash when a strip of titanium metal fell off another Continental Airlines plane on the runway. This burst a tyre on the Concorde, throwing debris into its fuel tank and causing the fire.

The Continental Airlines lawyers claimed the plane was already on fire before it made contact with the metal strip.

The firm said it plans to appeal the verdict that “only protects French interests”.

Air France is seeking 15m euros in damages from Continental Airlines in a separate lawsuit which will follow the trial.