The parents of 16 school children killed in the Germanwings crash have called for an apology from the boss of parent company Lufthansa.
In the German-language letter, made public by the families’ lawyer, the victims’ parents accuse Carsten Spohr, chief executive Lufthansa, of neglecting them in the aftermath of the March 24 crash.
The children and their teachers were returning to Germany from an exchange trip in Spain when the Barcelona-Dusseldorf flight was deliberately brought down by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, killing all 150 people on board
They said they wanted an apology for Lufthansa’s doctors not paying close attention to Lubitz’s prior period of depression and for Lufthansa not having the two-person cockpit rule before the crash.
“With more attention paid to these risks our children would perhaps still be alive,” they said.
The emotional letter also highlights other families’ complaints of “deeply insulting” compensation offers made in recent weeks.
The airline said Spohr had spoken with families. It has pledged to pay them up to €85,000.
A Lufthansa spokesman, quoted by the Associated Press, said Spohr had tried his best to talk to the families and had attended several memorial services.
“Mr Spohr was in touch with many relatives and friends and family of the victims but it’s obvious that he was not able to be in personal touch with each and every one of the more than 1,000 relatives that we have,” the spokesman said.
Spohr had spoken to some parents of the Haltern schoolchildren, he added.