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The pensioner couldn't believe his eyes.
It was around a quarter to four on Thursday, April 11, 1996. The 71-year-old Günther M. from Kleve wanted to buy a bouquet in the flower shop on the arrivals level at Düsseldorf Airport.
When he looked at the ceiling, he saw something unexpected: "A clump of fire came from the ceiling." .
Günther M. went on calmly to have a coffee at one of the bars: “Suddenly it was said: 'Fire!
Everything out! '”At the same moment he saw a black cloud that“ rolled along ”under the ceiling of the terminal.
M. reached the exit just in time because the smoke was poisonous.
Two firefighters in protective suits inspect the florist's shop, which is contaminated with toxic dioxin dust
Source: picture alliance / dpa
Panic broke out in the airport terminal, which opened in 1977.
Many passengers fled to the roof of the building.
It was not until late in the evening that a large number of the fire brigade brought the fire under control;
Wandering passengers had to be taken out of the cordoned off danger zone.
A total of a thousand firefighters from all over North Rhine-Westphalia were on duty.
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A hospital was set up on the runway;
Several people were resuscitated there and then admitted to intensive care units in nearby hospitals.
A total of 17 people died, and another 88 were injured, some seriously.
Until then, no one had thought such a catastrophe in an airport building was possible.
The passenger area of the terminal consisted of reinforced concrete and was clad with shiny sheet steel, and there was also a lot of multilayered glass.
All non-flammable substances in themselves.
How could such a catastrophe come about anyway?
The investigations showed: It was an unbelievable chain of mistakes, negligence and simple bad luck.
Fire engines on the grounds of Düsseldorf Airport
Source: picture-alliance / dpa
Everything had started soon after 1 p.m.
Two workers set about completing their order for the afternoon: welding work on an expansion joint above the arrival level of Terminal A. However, some red-hot bitumen dripped down on them - and fell onto rigid foam sheets made of polystyrene in a false ceiling.
This insulation material had been used illegally during the construction of the airport and was now beginning to smolder.
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At 3:31 p.m., the airport fire brigade received the first alarm.
Just 16 minutes later, the disaster could no longer be stopped.
Because the false ceiling above the flower shop was glowing hot by now.
Flammable gases were released from the smoldering polystyrene.
Probably at 3:47 p.m. the mixture with atmospheric oxygen reached sufficient saturation.
Now the smoldering fire ignited, as fire experts call the phenomenon, and spread unhindered over the 250 meters width of the terminal.
The deadly black cloud of smoke that Günther M. saw penetrated from the false ceiling.
Fortunately, she only pushed through Terminal A at walking pace. At 3:55 p.m., she oozed out of the Air France VIP lounge.
The people in the room desperately called for help over the phone - the mandatory escape door had been forgotten in the lounge, which was added in 1990.
The cries for help fell silent after 24 minutes: eight passengers had suffocated.
At 4:05 p.m. an emergency call came in from an elevator that had just arrived on the arrivals level: When the elevator door opened, five people - including a father and his six-year-old son - suddenly found themselves facing the black wall of smoke.
The poisonous smoke interrupted the light barrier on the elevator door, which then no longer closed.
All five inmates died from dioxin poisoning.
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Two people died in another elevator, and another dead person was later found in a toilet on the arrivals level;
the last victim died of carbon monoxide poisoning weeks after the hospital fire.
The criminal case for the Düsseldorf airport fire was discontinued after 89 days of negotiations
Source: picture-alliance / dpa
The airport was closed indefinitely because of the disaster at 4:25 p.m.
The announcement about this should definitely avoid panic: “The building will be closed due to a technical fault.
Please follow the instructions of the staff. "
There was no sprinkler system in Terminal A, nor were there any smoke detectors in the false ceiling.
The ventilation system was too weak to suck the smoke out of the building.
“Something was tweaked to save costs,” suspected an engineer from a fire insurance company on the day after the fire.
The police and the public prosecutor's office immediately formed a 40-man special commission, and several fire experts were also called in.
The legal processing of the disaster began in December 1999. Eleven defendants had to answer before the Düsseldorf regional court.
They were accused of negligence.
After a total of 89 days of hearing, the court dropped the trial in October 2001 against monetary restrictions - due to minor guilt.
The judge stated that the “terrible consequences” of the fire should not obscure the fact that the accused had to be proven to be guilty in order to punish them.
However, this was not possible.
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