Dana Air is yet to fully pay compensation to some of families of the victims of its MD 83 plane which crashed in Iju Ishaga in Lagos in 2012, killing more than 153 people.
The Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has released its third and final interim report on the accident.
Dana Head of Corporation Communications, Samuel Ogbogoro, confirmed that compensation matters are still being handled by the airline’s insurance firm, but full payment has been made to the families which completed documentation.
He clarified that only a fraction of others whose claims are under litigation in Nigeria and the United States have yet to be paid.
“We are, however, not able to give individual details as we respect the privacy of the affected families and our prayer is for God to console and heal their wounds,” he stressed.
Dana Air disclosed during the activities marking the first anniversary of the crash that only 11 families of the victims had received the $100,000 full insurance compensation claim as stipulated by law, and 95 families received $30,000 interim compensation.
The airline said the delay in payment was as a result of the inability of the families to submit the documents to the insurance firm, especially the letter of probate from the Lagos State government.
The AIB published the third interim report on the accident on June 3.
AIB spokesman, Tunji Oketunbi, said the updated interim report issued for the third anniversary of the accident is in accordance with Annex 13 to the convention on International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Act.
“The purpose of this investigation is the prevention of aviation accidents and incidents; it is not to apportion blame or liability,” he clarified.
Three interim safety recommendations were made to Dana Air, one to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
Oketunbi said the recommendations have been implemented by Dana and NCAA.
“The draft final report is ready and has been sent for the mandatory 60 days as prescribed in the Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chapter 6. 3) for comments and or suggestions.”
He also disclosed that four new safety recommendations were made to the stakeholders, and the report would be released to the public in due course.
An earlier report had indicted the flight crew of negligence because they continued the flight despite having noticed the abnormal performance of the engine of the plane.
The then AIB Commissioner, Muhtar Usman, said the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) “retained about 31 minutes of the flight and starts about 1515 at which time the captain and first officer were in a discussion of a non-normal condition regarding the correlation between the engine throttle setting and an engine power indication. “However, they did not voice concerns then that the condition would affect the continuation of the flight.”
Industry analysts described the pilot’s decision to continue the flight as abnormal and even suicidal, in the face of abnormal engine performance.
The NCAA is also investigating the incident involving an Aero Contractors flight NG181 which departed Lagos for Kaduna but was diverted to Abuja following a depressurisation of the Boeing 737-500 aircraft.
NCAA Director General, Muhtar Usman, confirmed receipt of the Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR) from Aero, and that safety inspectors designated to the airline are studying the report which will assist in the investigation.
He said Aero’s engineers have fixed the aircraft but inspectors would still carry out mandatory investigation to determine the cause of the incident.
He explained that the pilot and the crew managed the flight in line with standards and recommended practices (SARPS) and landed the flight safely.
Usman pledged that the NCAA will not compromise on safety.
Aero Contractors Media Manager, Simon Tumba, recounted that “about 25 minutes after take off, the cabin got depressurised and based on sound professional training, the pilot descended to 10,000 feet above sea level, the oxygen masks were automatically released from overhead compartments.
“Since we have a maintenance base in Abuja, our technical crew diverted the flight and landed in Abuja, while another aircraft was provided for the onward journey of our esteemed passengers.
“This second aircraft was used for the return journey to Lagos from Kaduna.
“While we regret the trauma our passengers may have suffered as a result of the incident and the consequent delays, we hasten to add that our technical crew are trained to handle this kind of situation. We are proud of the professional manner our technical crew handled the situation and commend them for their expert conduct and maturity.”
