CHARGE AGAINST AIR PORT OFFICIAL

Southland Times, Issue 23389, 22 December 1937, Page 5

CHARGE AGAINST AIR PORT OFFICIAL

SEQUEL TO TRAGIC CRASH AT OSTEND (Received December 21, 7.45 p.m.) LONDON, December 21. The Daily Mail says it has not been disclosed why a charge of manslaughter has been made against Captain Daems, superintendent of the Ostend air port, after a Magistrate’s inquiry into the tragic crash last month in which the Grand Duke Georges of Hesse and his family were killed. But, says The Daily Mail, it is understood that the charge arises from the non-despatch of a radio message to the ill-fated plane. . It is believed the inquiry showed that when the officials at Brussels learned that Ostend had been suddenly blacked out by fog they ordered the Ostend aerodrome to send a wireless message to the pilot to make direct for Croydon. . It is said that Captain Daems admitted that this message was not sent.

On November 17 the eight passengers and the crew of three were burned to death when a Belgian air liner, bound for London and seeking to land in a dense fog on the outskirts of Osttad, struck the chimney of a brick works, broke in two, crashed, and burst into flames. None of the occupants survived. The victims included: The Grand Duke Georges of Hesse and the Rhine, aged 31, who succeeded to the title on the recent death of his father, the Grand Duke Ernest. i

His wife, Princess Cecile of Greece and Denmark, a cousin of the Duchess of Kent. His mother, the Dowager Grand Duchess of Hesse and the Rhine, the second wife of the late Grand Duke Ernest and formerly Princess Eleonore of Solmesh-Ojensolmslich. And his two sons, Prince Louis, aged 6, and Prince Alexandre, aged 4.