Swiss flight attendant dies week after smoke forced plane’s emergency landing

A flight attendant aboard a Swiss aircraft that made an emergency landing in Austria due to smoke in the cabin has died, the airline said Tuesday.

The flight from Bucharest to Zurich on Dec. 23 was diverted to Graz after engine problems and smoke filled the cockpit and the cabin, Swiss International Air Lines said in a statement.

It said the attendant died Monday in intensive care in the hospital in Graz. The attendant was one of two crew members who were hospitalized. All 74 passengers aboard the Airbus A220-300 were evacuated after flight LX1885 landed safely, Swiss said.

“We are devastated at our dear colleague’s death,” Swiss Chief Executive Officer Jens Fehlinger said in the statement. “His loss has left us all in the deepest shock and grief. Our thoughts are with his family, whose pain we cannot imagine. I offer them my heartfelt condolences on behalf of all of us at Swiss.”

Swiss is a subsidiary of German airline Lufthansa.

Swiss said in its statement that “out of respect for the loved ones, we will not provide detailed information about our employee or the cause of death.”

“Thank you in advance for helping us ensure that the family have the time and the privacy to grieve,” the airline added. 

Twelve passengers received medical attention after the incidet, Agence France-Presse reported. The airline on Tuesday said that all passengers who were admitted to hospital had since been able to leave.  

The public prosecutor’s office in Graz has ordered a forensic examination of the attendant’s body, Austria’s APA news agency reported. It has also appointed an aviation expert and initiated an investigation into the cause of the accident.

Following the incident, Swiss said it was also conducting an internal examination.

“We want to thoroughly clarify the causes of the smoke and the effects on passengers and crew,” the airline wrote on Thursday. “The focus is on the mechanical parts of the aircraft, such as the engine, but also on the use of protective equipment for the cabin crew, known as Protective Breathing Equipment.”

The airline said initial findings “point to a technical problem in one of the engines,” adding that it was “not ruling out anything and are working closely with the relevant authorities, the engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney and the aircraft manufacturer Airbus.”

“This is the saddest of days for us all,” Swiss COO Oliver Buchhofer said in a statement. “Losing our colleague and fellow member of our SWISS team leaves me distraught and dismayed. But we stand with one another at this truly difficult time; and we will be doing our utmost, together with the relevant authorities, to determine the causes involved. We have many questions, and we want them answered.”