Emotional tributes have been paid to the victims of last month's Alps plane crash at a memorial service in Germany.

Some 500 relatives of the dead were among the 1,400-strong congregation at Cologne cathedral.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was joined by ministers from France and Spain, and executives from Germanwings and its parent company Lufthansa.
Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz is accused of deliberately flying the plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 on board
The two-hour service included music and tributes from a number of individuals, including relatives, dignitaries and members of the emergency services.
German President Joachim Gauck told the congregation that the country was still in "enormous shock" over what happened.
"We face not only sadness and pain but also the horror of peering into the abyss inside the human soul, even inside our human existence itself," Mr Gauck said.
"We are also horrified by the evil that manifested itself because neither psychology nor technology can entirely eradicate it."
A sister of one of the victims, named only as Sarah, told mourners: "Let love be stronger than the desperation in the midst of sorrow."

'Not for us to judge'

Organisers placed 150 candles inside the church, one for every person who died, including Lubitz.
Asked about the decision to include the co-pilot, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, The Archbishop of Cologne, said: "It's not for us to judge."
Lubitz's parents were invited to the memorial but chose not to attend.
Jorge Fernandez Diaz, Spain's interior minister, also spoke, telling the congregation: "We must try to fill this hole with love and hope".


Bells tolled as mourners arrived for the service.
Music students from the Joseph-Koenig school in Haltern, which lost 16 children and two teachers in the crash, played the theme from the film "Schindler's List".
Flags flew at half-mast across Germany, and large screens were erected for crowds gathered outside.
The BBC's Jenny Hill, outside the cathedral, said the mood was very sombre.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 
Top