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Details Emerging of Passengers Aboard Crashed Germanwings Jet Portraits of Passengers Killed in Jet Crash Emerge
(about 4 hours later)
A clearer picture began to emerge on Wednesday of the 150 people believed to have lost their lives in the crash of a Germanwings jet in southern France. BARCELONA, Spain — Outside the Liceu opera house in Barcelona on Wednesday, staff members gathered at noon for two minutes of silence to honor two singers who had recently performed there.
According to the airline, at least 67 Germans, including two infants, were on the Airbus A320 that crashed on Tuesday on its way to Düsseldorf, Germany, from Barcelona, Spain. Many Spaniards were also aboard. The passengers included two opera singers, as well as a class of 16 German high school students returning from a study program near Barcelona, along with their two teachers. The singers — Oleg Bryjak, a bass baritone, and Maria Radner, a contralto, who had spent about a month and a half in Barcelona rehearsing and then performing Wagner’s “Siegfried” — were among the 150 people believed to have died on Tuesday when a Germanwings jet en route from Barcelona to Düsseldorf, Germany, crashed in the French Alps.
Germanwings was working to notify families before releasing further information about the 144 passengers and six crew members who were on the plane. But some countries whose citizens were aboard began to confirm their identities, and details also emerged from other sources. “When you are in an opera, it means working very hard and a lot together, so you become a mini-family,” said Christina Scheppelmann, artistic and production director of the Liceu. “These were not only great singers but also wonderful colleagues.”
In Barcelona, the Liceu opera house planned to observe two minutes of silence on Wednesday for the opera singers lost in the crash — Oleg Bryjak, a bass baritone, and Maria Radner, a contralto — according to Joan Corbera, a spokesman for the opera house. The two had performed there on Saturday in Wagner’s “Siegfried,” with Ms. Radner singing the role of Erda and Mr. Bryjak the role of Alberich. Ms. Radner’s husband and baby were also on the plane. As the two singers were mourned in Barcelona, details about other passengers, from at least 15 countries, began to emerge on Wednesday. The dead included a couple who had just married three days earlier, an Australian hoping to start teaching English in France, the wife of a prominent Catalan politician and a film editor from Britain headed to a family funeral in Germany.
Mr. Bryjak, a 54-year-old native of Kazakhstan, had been a member of Deutsche Oper am Rhein, based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg, since the 1996-97 season. “We have lost Oleg Bryjak, a great artist and a great man,” the German opera house’s general director, Christoph Meyer, said in a written statement. “We are stunned.” Thomas Winkelmann, the managing director of Germanwings, a Lufthansa subsidiary, confirmed that as of 11 a.m., the families of 123 victims — including 72 Germans, 35 Spaniards and two Americans — had been notified. Citizens of Australia, Argentina, Iran, Venezuela, Britain, the Netherlands, Colombia, Mexico, Japan, Denmark, Belgium and Israel were also on board.
In a 2014 interview with Deutsche Welle, Mr. Bryjak explained that he had grown up in Kazakhstan because his Ukrainian-born father had been sent into forced exile there by the Soviets, after having done forced labor in Germany as a teenager in World War II. Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, confirmed the deaths of two Americans and said officials were reviewing records to determine whether other Americans had been onboard. In a statement, she said the department was not releasing the names of the two passengers.
“The good part of the story is that I grew up with the children of other prisoners,” Mr. Bryjak told Deutsche Welle. “Russians and Ukrainians, Latvians and Georgians, Lithuanians and Kazakhs. We were absolutely international. So it would be impossible for me to say that one nation is better than another.” Two Spanish employees of Delphi, an American automotive company, and at least one employee of Bayer, the German chemical company, were among the passengers, according to Spanish news reports.
The baritone sang at the prestigious Bayreuth Festival last year and was expected to perform there again in August. Mr. Bryjak, 54, a native of Kazakhstan, had been a member of Deutsche Oper am Rhein, a German opera house, since the 1996-97 season. “We have lost Oleg Bryjak, a great artist and a great man,” the opera house’s general director, Christoph Meyer, said in a statement. “We are stunned.” The baritone sang at the prestigious Bayreuth Festival last year and was expected to perform there again in August.
Ms. Radner, a rising star of Wagnerian opera, made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in “Götterdämmerung” in January 2012, and at La Scala in Milan in “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” in March 2012. She had been expected to perform at Bayreuth this summer in “Das Rheingold” and “Götterdämmerung,” according to a biography on her management company’s website. Ms. Radner, a rising star of Wagnerian opera, made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in “Götterdämmerung” in January 2012, and at La Scala in Milan in “Die Frau Ohne Schatten” in March 2012. She had been expected to perform at Bayreuth this summer, according to a biography on her management company’s website.
Ariadna Falguera, the wife of a prominent Catalan politician, was also believed to be a passenger. Her husband, Lluís Juncà, is the chief of cabinet of Oriol Junqueras, the leader of Esquerra Republicana, a party that has been leading the movement for Catalonia to secede from Spain. Ms. Falguera worked for a fashion company and was traveling to Germany for business. Ms. Radner, who was traveling with her husband and baby, was “one of the few contralto voices that we now have,” Ms. Scheppelmann said.
Two passengers had just married on Saturday, according to Juan José Maestre, a town hall official at La Llagosta, outside Barcelona. Asmae Ouahhoud el-Allaoui, a 23-year-old Spaniard, was moving to Düsseldorf to live with her Moroccan husband, who was also on the flight but whose name has not been disclosed. The victims included a class of 16 German high school students returning from a study program near Barcelona, along with their two teachers. German authorities have not yet released the names of the victims, but the Valencia soccer club issued a statement offering condolences and identifying one of the teachers as Sonja Cercek, a devoted fan of the club. A woman with that name was listed on the German school’s website as a teacher of Spanish.
Another person from La Llagosta, Francisco Javier Goñalons, 42, was on the flight, according to the town hall. He had recently lived in another Catalan town, Badalona. Ariadna Falguera, the wife of a politician active in the Catalonian campaign to secede from Spain, was also a passenger, according to Esquerra Republicana, a party leading the movement. Her husband, Lluís Juncá, is a high-ranking member of the party. Ms. Falguera worked for a fashion company and was traveling to Germany for business.
Two Australians were aboard the flight. They were identified on Wednesday by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as Carol Friday, a 68-year-old registered nurse, and her son Greig Friday, 29, a mechanical engineer, both from the state of Victoria. Mr. Friday had hoped to start work soon as an English teacher in France, and the two were spending a few weeks together in Europe beforehand, their family said in a statement. “They were both extraordinary and exceptional people,” the statement said. A Spaniard, Asmae Ouahhoud el-Allaoui, 23, was moving to Düsseldorf to live with her Moroccan husband, whom she had just married on Saturday, according to Juan José Maestre, a town hall official at La Llagosta, outside Barcelona. Her husband was also on the flight but his name has not been disclosed.
Two Japanese passengers were also aboard, identified by the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo as Satoshi Nagata, a man in his 60s, and Junichi Sato, a man in his 40s. Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said the men’s families had not given the government permission to release more information about them. Another person from La Llagosta, Francisco Javier Goñalons, 42, was on the flight, according to the town hall.
Marina Bandrés López-Belío, a Spanish citizen living in Manchester, England, was killed in the crash, along with her 7-month-old son, Julian Pracz-Bandres, according to a statement from her husband, Pawel Pracz. Ms. Bandres, an editor and colorist working in post-production for film and video, was traveling to Germany for an uncle’s funeral and had bought her plane tickets at the last moment, Mr. Pracz said.
Two Australians were aboard the flight. They were identified on Wednesday by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop as Carol Friday, a 68-year-old registered nurse, and her son Greig Friday, 29, a mechanical engineer, both from the state of Victoria. Mr. Friday had hoped to soon start teaching English in France, and the two were spending a few weeks together in Europe beforehand, their family said in a statement. “They were both extraordinary and exceptional people,” the statement said.
In Tokyo, the foreign ministry identified the two Japanese passengers onboard as Satoshi Nagata, a man in his 60s, and Junichi Sato, a man in his 40s. Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said the men’s families had not given the government permission to release more information about them.
Two Colombians were killed in the crash, that country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. María del Pilar Tejada, 33, was studying economics in Germany and was returning from a visit to see her husband in Barcelona, according to Colombian news reports. Luis Eduardo Medrano, 36, had worked in Equatorial Guinea as an architect since 2009, according to a statement from Fundación Universitaria de Popayán, the Colombian university he attended.Two Colombians were killed in the crash, that country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. María del Pilar Tejada, 33, was studying economics in Germany and was returning from a visit to see her husband in Barcelona, according to Colombian news reports. Luis Eduardo Medrano, 36, had worked in Equatorial Guinea as an architect since 2009, according to a statement from Fundación Universitaria de Popayán, the Colombian university he attended.
The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said in a statement that it was likely that some British citizens had been on the flight. “I don’t want to speculate on numbers of British nationals involved until we have completed our checks on all the passenger information,” he said. “However, based on the information available to us, it is sadly likely that there were some British nationals on board the flight.’’ At least one victim was from Belgium, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter, but it released no names. Mexico said as many as three of its citizens, might have been aboard, but it cautioned that the information had not been confirmed.
At least one victim was from Belgium, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter, but it released no names. Mexico said as many as three of its citizens may have been aboard, but it cautioned that the information had not been confirmed. Mr. Winkelmann said there would be two special flights Thursday, one from Düsseldorf and another from Barcelona, to take relatives to the area where the crash occurred.
Two employees of Delphi, an American automotive company, and at least one employee of Bayer, a German chemical company, were among the passengers, according to Spanish news reports. He and Carsten Spohr, the chief executive of Lufthansa, plan to fly to Düsseldorf and then on to Barcelona to speak with relatives of victims.
“The individual care for each relative left behind is our top priority,” he said.