‘Array of problems’ led to roof collapse at Paris airport

An array of structural problems led to the partial collapse of a terminal roof at Charles de Gaulle airport that killed four people and injured three others, a government-appointed commission reports.

PARIS

The commission, which has spent nine months investigating the May 23 accident, was not asked to determine who was to blame.

Judicial officials are investigating who should be held responsible.

Jean Berthier, head of the commission investigating the collapse, refused to discuss a “conceptual error” in the design, but said the covering of the vaulted roof grew “progressively fragile” and that “materials weakened” over time.

Falling glass, steel and masonry killed four travellers — two Chinese, one Czech and one Lebanese — and injured three others when part of the departure hall roof at the terminal fell.

A preliminary report released in July of last year pointed to a weakness in the concrete that formed the terminal’s vaulted roof, saying that may have contributed to the collapse.

In the report released Tuesday, the commission said there was “important fissuring in certain zones (that) probably developed at the moment of construction.”

The report also pointed to a weak support girder and the position of metallic struts inside the concrete.

“Rather than speaking of one cause for the collapse, we should speak of the conjunction of factors which combined to lead to the ruin of a structure whose initial security reserves were weak,” the panel concluded.

Terminal 2E was designed by French architect Paul Andreu, who is currently working on a new opera house in Beijing.

The Associated Press