The private jet accident that has cut short the life of the Griesemann between Cádiz and Colonia

The damaged Cessna 551 plane, in an image from November 2020 at Palma Airport.JAVIER RODRÍGUEZ

They were used to seeing Karl-Peter Griesemann's Cessna 551 plane parked at the control tower of the Jerez de la Frontera airport.

This 72-year-old German businessman, specialized in private and medicalized flights, and his wife, Julianne Griesemann, 68, lived halfway between an impressive villa in the Atlanterra urbanization, in Tarifa (Cádiz), and Colonia, their city of residence. in Germany.

At noon this Sunday, at the Jerez aerodrome, the man took control of his

to travel to Germany, accompanied by his daughter Lisa, 27, and the girl's boyfriend, Paul Föllmer, a year younger.

"Seeing them embark with their puppies, toys for their grandchildren, saying goodbye to them normally and then finding out that you are one of the last people who has seen them is a huge stick," says one of the people who attended the family hours before they suffered a fatal outcome when their aircraft fell into the sea off the coast of Latvia, an accident that is under investigation.

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A private plane that had taken off from Jerez de la Frontera crashes in Latvia

Griesemann was an experienced driver, especially on the route he took on this Sunday.

"They traveled here three or four times a year, at Christmas, Easter or summer," says the same worker at the airport, who asks to remain anonymous, and who had known the businessman to serve her for five years.

In Jerez they are still wondering what could have caused the depressurization of the cabin that Griesemann said he suffered when the plane was in mid-flight.

It was the last communication, according to sources close to the case.

The plane then changed course twice, first over Paris and then over Cologne (which was supposed to be its destination), before heading straight for the Baltic Sea, passing near the island of Gotland (Sweden) and ending up over lose speed and altitude at 19.37,

Der Kölner #Karneval trauert nach der schlimmen Absturz-Tragödie um Ex-Blaue-Funken-Chef Peter #Griesemann, einem verdienten Kölner.

😢😞 #Köln https://t.co/NFcGM6A2p9

– EXPRESS / EXPRESS.DE (@express24) September 5, 2022

The worst outcome ended up being confirmed to the agencies by a spokesman for the Swedish rescue service last Sunday night: “We have been aware that the ship has crashed [at sea] northwest of the city of Ventspils, in Latvia.

She has dropped off the radar.”

By then, Spanish, French, German and Danish military aircraft had escorted and approached the aircraft.

When they got close enough to inspect it, they were unable to see anyone in the cabin, or communicate with the plane, which is 14.39 meters long, has a wingspan of 15.90 meters and is registered in Austria.

While the investigation of the event begins —even with the doubt of which country will direct it—, at the Cadiz airport they wonder what could have gone wrong, to the extreme of the fatal outcome.

The company that Griesemann owned,

Cologne-based Quick Air specialized in private and medical flights.

The company has 11 ambulance planes that can be considered as flying intensive care units, as indicated on a website that has ceased to be operational this Monday.

Quick Air was the latest business venture for the septuagenarian, who was also responsible for Griesemann Gruppe, a company with more than 1,600 workers in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands specializing in the construction of industrial plants, which now manages one of the three sons of the marriage, according to the local media of Cologne

.

In this city, the businessman was well known for his active participation in the city's carnival, where he was president of the Blaue Funken (Blue Sparks), a carnival group.

The terminal of the airport of La Parra, in Jerez, in an archive photo of EDUARDO RUIZ

Nor was it unknown in the area of ​​the villas of Atlanterra, an urbanization near the town of Zahara de los Atunes (Barbate, Cádiz), although dependent on Tarifa.

There, perched on a hill with impressive villas facing the sea, the Griesemanns had owned a farm known as Hoyo del Toro for decades.

So assiduous was the marriage to Atlanterra that a neighbor remembers them as "one of the first Germans" to settle in an area that is famous for the important presence of the German community.

However, the privacy and the dispersion of the constructions – built separately from each other on winding roads in the countryside – made various neighbors and real estate workers in the area unaware of what happened this Monday.

Since the Griesemann couple settled in the area more than three decades ago, they regularly visited their villa in Tarifa alone, "other times accompanied by their children and grandchildren."

He was almost always there to spend seasons and using the air link from Jerez de la Frontera, thanks to his private plane.

It was the case of the eventful trip that he shared with Lisa, the youngest of her offspring, and her boyfriend.

The 27-year-old was fond of horse riding and a little over a year ago, together with her partner, she acquired a farm of more than 19 hectares near the German city of Bonn, as she herself told the German media

in May 2021 .

Now, all the occupants of that flight are officially missing.

With little hope of finding survivors, only the investigation of the event will be able to determine what happened so that one of those routine trips of the Griesemann between their beloved Atlanterra and their colony of residence ended in a fall into the sea.

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