A Swiss flight attendant has died a week after smoke forced a plane to make an emergency landing

A flight attendant on a Swiss plane that made an emergency landing in Austria due to smoke in the cabin has died, the airline announced on Tuesday.

A Dec. 23 flight from Bucharest to Zurich was diverted to Graz after engine trouble and smoke filling the cockpit and cabin, Swiss International Air Lines said in statement.

The assistant was said to have died on Monday in intensive care at a hospital in Graz. The companion was one of the two crew members who were hospitalized. All 74 passengers on board the Airbus A220-300 were evacuated after flight LX1885 landed safely, Swiss said.

“We are devastated by the death of our dear colleague,” Swiss CEO Jens Fehlinger said in a statement. “His loss has left us all in the deepest shock and sadness. Our thoughts are with his family, whose pain we cannot imagine. I send them my sincere condolences on behalf of all of us at Swiss.”

Swiss is a subsidiary of the German airline Lufthansa.

Swiss said in a statement that “out of respect for loved ones, we will not provide detailed information about our employee or the cause of death.”

“We thank you in advance for helping us ensure that the family has time and privacy to grieve,” the airline added.

Twelve passengers received medical attention after the incident, Agence France-Presse reported. The airline said on Tuesday that all passengers who had been admitted to hospital had been able to leave in the meantime.

The State Prosecutor’s Office in Graz ordered a forensic examination of the body of the attendant, the Austrian news agency APA reported. He also appointed an aviation expert and launched an investigation into the cause of the accident.

Following the incident, Swiss said it was also conducting an internal review.

“We want to thoroughly clarify the causes of the smoke and the effects on passengers and crew,” the airline wrote on Thursday. “The focus is on the mechanical parts of the aircraft, such as the engine, but also on the use of protective equipment for cabin crew, known as Protective Breathing Equipment.”

The airline said initial information “points to a technical problem in one of the engines”, adding that it “is not ruling anything out and is working closely with the authorities, engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney and aircraft manufacturer Airbus”.

“This is the saddest day for all of us,” said Swiss operations director Oliver Buchhofer ua statement. “The loss of our colleague and fellow member of our SWISS team leaves me distraught and horrified. But we stand with each other at this truly difficult time; and we will do our best, together with the relevant authorities, to determine the causes involved. We have many questions and want answers .”