Families dismayed at trial for Rio-Paris Air France crash

By NICOLAS VAUX-MONTAGNY
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Families of the 228 people killed aboard a Rio-Paris flight that crashed in 2009 were hoping for justice at last. Instead, they’re wracked with anger and disappointment as a long-awaited trial wraps up Thursday with little hope that anyone will be held accountable. Airbus and Air France face manslaughter charges in the trial over the crash of storm-tossed Flight 447 over the Atlantic. But even the state prosecutors felt the trial didn’t produce proof of criminal wrongdoing by the companies. They argued that both should be acquitted. They laid the blame primarily on the pilots, who died in the crash. As prosecutors spoke, dozens of people who lost loved ones in the crash stormed out of the Paris courtroom Thursday.