Swissair official recalls relative care effort after SR111 crash

Walter Kälin, who was part of Swissair's management when flight SR111 crashed into the Atlantic off the Canadian coast on 2 September 1998, has described the scale of the task the airline faced in caring for the families of the 229 people killed. Many relatives travelled to Halifax to say goodbye.

According to Kälin, the airline had to build a comprehensive support system almost from nothing. No words are ever the right ones in such a situation, he said. What mattered was being present, giving people security and not leaving them alone. Above all, it was about making information available to them.

Swissair had held its first exercise in family assistance only three months before the crash. The work continued long after relatives returned from Canada. Personal items had to be handed back, memorial events organised and families supported further.

Kälin later led Carelink, a Swiss organisation specialising in psychosocial emergency assistance. He said the experience from that period has shaped how crisis care is handled today. He spoke in a video podcast connected to the cinema film "111 – Echoes from Halifax", which examines the aftermath of the disaster.