Last survivor of the Hindenburg disaster dies at age 90

LACONIA, N.H. — The last remaining survivor of the Hindenburg disaster has died. Werner Gustav Doehner was 90.

His son says a church service was held Friday for Doehner, who died on Nov. 8 at a hospital in Laconia, New Hampshire.

Doehner was the only person left of the 62 passengers and crew who survived the May 6, 1937, fire that killed his father, sister and 34 others.

6th May 1937: The German airship 'Hindenburg' (LZ-129) in flames after the disaster on its arrival at Lakehurst, New Jersey. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

As the 80th anniversary approached in 2017, Doehner told The Associated Press he and his parents, older brother and sister were returning from a vacation in Germany on the 804-foot-long zeppelin to Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey.

As the Hindenburg arrived, flames began to flicker on top of the ship. Hydrogen, exposed to air, fueled an inferno. Doehner said his mother threw him and his brother out of the ship before she left, too.