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Luxembourg crash families mourn
NIEDERANVEN, Luxembourg -- The families of the 20 people who died when a plane crashed in fog as it approached Luxembourg airport have arrived at the site to grieve. The relatives were taken to a special morgue before they were expected to attend a planned ceremonial service later on Thursday. Twenty of the 22 passengers and crew died when the plane crashed and burst into flames. Most of the passengers were business commuters. Fifteen of the dead were from Germany, one was from France and four were from Luxembourg. Luxembourg has announced that flags will be flown at half mast until Sunday, when a religious service will be held at the Notre Dame cathedral in the capital. Marie-Jose Meyers-Frank, the Mayor of Niederanven, met some of the relatives. She said: "We share our community's pain with the families." French passenger Jean-Daniel Boye is out of critical danger, while the Luxembourger pilot, Captain Claude Poeckes, suffered serious but not life-threatening back injuries, Luxair spokesman Paul Greis told Reuters. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the accident which happened when the Luxair twin-engined Fokker 50 from Berlin crashed in fields just a few miles from Luxembourg's Findel airport on Wednesday. French crash aviation experts are assisting Luxembourg officials in trying to unravel information from the plane's flight recorder retrieved from the charred wreck. "It's a complex investigation," police spokesman Vic Reuter said. Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker chaired a hastily convened Cabinet meeting with Luxair officials to assess progress in the investigation into the country's worst air crash. Fog has been suggested as one possible cause, while a flock of birds being sucked into the engine has been reported as another, The Associated Press said. Luxembourg Transport Minister Henri Grethen said five planes ahead of the Fokker had landed safely in the weather conditions. "We only know that the aircraft while approaching did not report any difficulties during the last radio contact," he said. The plane was en route from Berlin's Tempelhof Airport when it crashed at about 10:15 a.m. (0915 GMT). "We know nothing about the causes of the accident," said Christian Heinzmann, Luxair's chief executive. "As Minister Grethen has said, there were several landings at the airport before the crash. We do not know what happened." The accident occurred after the pilot contacted the tower to get an altitude check, an official told CNN. According to one account, the pilot tried to land on a local road. Luxair said the plane had been in service since 1991. "Luxair deeply regrets having to confirm that flight LG9642/LH2420 coming from Berlin-Tempelhof to Luxembourg was involved this morning in an accident at Niederanven," the airline said in a statement.
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