Concorde crash prompts manslaughter charge

PARIS, July 3 (UPI) -- Five individuals and Continental Airlines face manslaughter charges in connection with a Concorde plane crash in France eight years ago, authorities say.

French authorities said the U.S. airline will stand trial for its involvement with the July 2000 crash at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport that killed 113 people, The Daily Telegraph said Thursday.

Prosecutors in the case have alleged that Continental mechanic John Taylor and maintenance chief Stanley Ford were responsible for a metal strip that caused the fatal crash.

Investigators concluded the non-standard strip had become detached from the airport prior to the crash and blew out one of the Concorde's tires after the supersonic aircraft ran over the displaced item.

The debris ruptured the plane's fuel tank, causing a fire that destroyed the plane, investigators said.

The Telegraph said in addition to Continental and its two employees, three French officials have been charged with manslaughter. Those individuals include aerospace official Henri Perrier, former Concorde chief engineer Jacques Herubel and ex-DGAC director of technical services Claude Frantzen, whose former group is the French civil aviation authority.