-
Source: Reuters -
Related
As the first anniversary of the Air New Zealand Airbus crash in France nears, the victims' families admit to being on a "tightwire" waiting for the final report into what happened.
Five New Zealanders and two Germans died when the plane nosedived during a test flight into the sea near Perpignan, off the southern coast of France, on November 28 last year.
A commemoration service will be held there on Friday, and in Christchurch and Auckland on Saturday.
Christchurch engineers Noel Marsh, 35, and Michael Gyles, 49, and a former Christchurch man, Civil Aviation Authority inspector Jeremy Cook, 58, were among those killed.
Several family members will attend the French service, with a plaque to be unveiled at Canet Beach in memory of those killed.
Ten members of Cook's family will be in Perpignan, along with Marsh's wife, Tracy, and their daughter, who was born three months after the crash.
Cook's mother, Beryl Wride, is waiting to find out whether she can get a seat on a flight to France.
"It would be fantastic to be with all the others who have managed to get there," she told The Press.
The past year had been "terrible", with added tension as the final report into the crash had not been completed, Wride said.
"Although we are doing this and everybody is together, there will be other things to keep us on the tightwire. It's been really bad.
"We have not got closure. That keeps the wound open. It's absolutely depressing."
Families just wanted to know what happened, she said.
The Marsh family declined to comment, while the Gyles family could not be contacted on Monday.
Latest NZ News Video
-
ONE News Minute 9am update: May 26 (1:00)
-
Kids cough up $14m for Government (1:50)
-
Education ministry 'barbaric' (1:55)
