An Italian court has jailed four aviation officials for up to eight years over Italy 's worst air disaster in which 118 people were killed. The four were found guilty of manslaughter.
All 104 passengers and six crew on the Copenhagen-bound SAS passenger jet were killed in a collision with a private Cessna plane in heavy fog on a runway at Milan's Linate airport in October 2001.
The Cessna's two German pilots and two Italian passengers were also killed. Four airport workers died when the SAS plane ploughed into a baggage hangar.
Family and friends of some of the people who died burst into tears as the rulings were read out, some of them straining to hear the sentences from outside the packed courtroom.
"The important thing is that there was a conviction and that it will be an example. By (bringing them to justice) they showed that Italy is still a civilised country," said Ivana Caffi Motta, whose husband died in the crash . "We never had a desire for revenge."
The court sentenced Linate director Vincenzo Fusco and air traffic controller Paolo Zacchetti to eight years in jail. Zacchetti's sentence was double the term prosecutors wanted. His lawyer said he would appeal.
The court sentenced Sandro Gualano, the former chief executive of air traffic control authority Enav, and Francesco Federico, the head of the Malpensa and Linate airports, to six and a half years in prison.
"They were found guilty and the verdict was tough," said Adele Scaroni Pasapane, who lost a relative in the crash . "It's not exactly what we wanted because it's not the maximum, but it's still good."
After the crash , investigators uncovered a series of shortcomings at Linate including the lack of a working ground radar system at an airport that is regularly shrouded in fog. Prosecutors called Linate "a death trap".