Guardian

The first anniversary of the Dana Airline accident, which claimed over 160 lives, including all members of the same family is today. While the full investigation report on the cause of the accident is yet to be released, WOLE SHADARE and WOLE  OYEBADE report that families of the victims and those who lost property on the ground are yet to get full compensation.

We can confirm that Pastor Omowunmi and some others have received some initial payment, but like I said, negotiations are ongoing between the legal representatives of the insurers and the legal representatives of the victims. Both parties, as a matter of necessity, must reach an agreement. It is not in the hands of the airline but I can assure you that the insurers are sparing no effort in ensuring that an agreement is reached in accordance with applicable law

TODAY is exactly a year since Nigeria recorded the tragic Dana Airline air mishap that claimed over 160 lives. The ill fated Dana Flight 0992, which came down in Iju-Ishaga, on the outskirts of Lagos, shattered whatever remained of the low confidence reposed in the aviation industry.

For more than five years before the tragic accident, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) did what it could to reposition a struggling sector, that had been badly dented by three accidents happening in quick succession: the Sosoliso Airline crash on October 22, 2005 and the ADC Airline accident six months later.

The preliminary report on the Dana accident had suggested that the crash would not have occurred, if the captain of the ill-fated MD 83 aircraft had done what he was supposed to do. According to the report prepared by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB), the pilot had alerted the Lagos airport authorities on the emergency situation, 11 nautical miles to the landing.  It was further disclosed that the pilot’s cry was given priority, but the plane could not make it, as it crashed 4 nautical miles to landing.

The memory of June 3, 2012 will for a long time remain in the minds of the families of both the 153 passengers on board the Dana aircraft and the six residents who were ground victims. Some of them who spoke with The Guardian recently, compared the accident to a scene from a thriller movie. But almost a year later, the stark reality of the crash had not only starred the victims rudely in the eyes, it has also brought shocking re-awakening.

Many of them who spoke on the condition of anonymity, carpeted Dana Airline for the manner it had conducted and is still conducting itself, in the area of compensation, as stipulated by the law governing aviation. Majority of them are dissatisfied with the company, accusing the carrier of ‘deliberately stalling the process of compensating families and relations of victims of the ill-fated crash.”

But Dana has exonerated itself, claiming that its insurers, Lyolds of London, was ready and willing to settle all claims whenever the claimants were ready. The airline, at a briefing this week, disclosed that only 11 families of the victims have received full compensation.

According to Dana’s spokesman, Mr. Tony Usidiamen, the 11 families have received full compensation of $100,000 (N15 million) each, while 95 others received an initial $30,000 (N4.5 million) each, as at May 25. He said compensation would be paid to all the victims’ families, provided they have valid documents to back up their claims. He added that the families of 20 other victims had submitted their letters of administration from the Probate Registry of Lagos State High Court.

His words: “The letters will be verified by the airline’s insurance firm, the Lyodds Insurance Company of London, for payment. However, eight families did not submit any claim in respect of their lost family members. They may file their claims later.”

Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, which highlights the liabilities of airlines for the death and injury of passengers; damage to baggage states: “The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger, upon the condition only that the accident, which caused the death or injury, took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking.”

The Montreal Convention, formerly the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, is a treaty adopted by a diplomatic meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) member states in 1999. It amended important provisions of the Warsaw Convention’s regime concerning compensation for the victims of air disasters. The Convention re-established urgently needed uniformity and predictability of rules relating to the international carriage of passengers, baggage and cargo. Whilst maintaining the core provisions, which have successfully served the international air transport community for several decades (i.e. the Warsaw regime), the new convention achieves the required modernisation in a number of key areas.

It protects passengers by introducing a two-tier liability system and by facilitating the swift recovery of proven damages without the need for lengthy litigation.

Article 17 equally states that the carrier would be liable for any damage sustained in case of destruction or loss of, or of damage to, checked in baggage upon condition only that the event, which caused the destruction, loss or damage, took place on board the aircraft or during any period within which the checked baggage was in the charge of the carrier.

However, the carrier is not liable if and to the extent that the damage resulted from the inherent defect, quality of the baggage. In the case of unchecked baggage, including personal items, the carrier is liable if the damage resulted from its fault or that of its servants or agents. If the carrier admits the loss of the checked in baggage, or if the checked baggage has not arrived at the expiration of 21 days after the date it ought to have arrived, the passenger is entitled to enforce against the carrier the rights, which flow from the contract of carriage.

The convention stipulates that in the event of an accident, airlines are expected to immediately pay $100, 000 to the families of each of the victims. Paragraph 1, Article 17 of the Montreal Convention states: “For damages arising under paragraph 1 of Article 17 not exceeding 100,000 Special Drawing Rights for each passenger, the carrier shall not be able to exclude or limit its liability.”

The carrier shall not be liable for damages arising under paragraph 1 of Article 17 to the extent that they exceed for each passenger 100,000 Special Drawing Rights if the carrier proves that: “Such damage was not due to the negligence or other wrongful act or omission of the carrier or its servants or agents; or that such damage was solely due to the negligence or other wrongful act or omission of a third party.”

Although, the final report of the accident is yet to be made public, families of the victims could claim more damages and ask for higher compensation if it is proven that the accident was caused by the negligence of the carrier.

The previous Chicago /Warsaw Convention liability was fixed at $10,000 per passenger. Nigeria is a signatory to the Montreal Convention. There are indications that the airline may be compelled to pay more than the statutory $100, 000 for each of the victims as compensation, if the final report finds it guilty of negligence.

One of the ground victims whose losses were unquantifiable is   Pastor Daniel Omowunmi, who lost all he had laboured to build for many years. The aircraft landed directly on his six-bedroom ensuite building and warehouse, which had about six containers with educational materials and other things inside them. Big fishponds and other properties were also involved.

Omowunmi estimated his losses at over N500 million. “I have two container load of books that were printed abroad; four container-load of cooking utensils belonging to my clients. My jeep that was parked in the house is gone,” he lamented.

The clergyman continued: “Dana has not responded at all. It is a pity. They destroyed my life, my means of livelihood.  If you go and interview anybody from them (Dana), you will not hear any reasonable thing from them. The best they will tell you is that, they are working on it. So, how do I take that to be communication? These people are wicked and not responsible. I went to seal off their Ikeja premises. Can you imagine their spokesman, Tony Usidamen, saying that they do not have any business with me? Usidamen, who I believe is a Nigerian, went on air to say that they do not have any business with me but the insurance firm.”

He further disclosed that his lawyer had advised him to collect the $30, 000 cheque after series of letters were written to the airline, alleging that Dana’s lawyer was “deliberately” stalling the process for the payment of full compensation.

However, Usidamen, who defended the airline said: “We can confirm that Pastor Omowunmi and some others have received some initial payment, but like I said, negotiations are ongoing between the legal representatives of the insurers and the legal representatives of the victims. Both parties, as a matter of necessity, must reach an agreement. It is not in the hands of the airline but I can assure you that the insurers are sparing no effort in ensuring that an agreement is reached in accordance with applicable law”.

He also said the allegation that the insurer of the airline had abandoned the Iju-Ishaga residents was untrue.

Chima Ileka, one of the ground victims who lost his brother-in-law living with him in the crash, also alleged that the management of Dana deliberately refused its insurers to facilitate the payment of the statutory compensation to them.

He said: “The deliberate refusal is as a result of the wicked machinations of Dana Airline and its representatives. It is a very sad situation we have found ourselves in. June 3, 2013 will mark the first anniversary of the crash. And since then, we have not been compensated. The only thing we got from them was N200, 000 that they gave us about a month after the incident. They said we should it to secure accommodation. But it was not even enough for that purpose. We have been patiently waiting all these while, thinking that they would do something, but till this minute, nothing has been done so far. All we keep hearing is that we should be patient and that they are waiting for updates from their insurance company.

“This is not fair at all. We are working on going to the state government to help us use their good offices to help us talk to Dana management to pay up the compensation. Life has been very tough for us since the incident. Ever since the death of my brother-in-law, my aged mother-in-law has been the one taking care of the three children he left behind back in the village. The government should please help us step into the issue and talk to the management of DANA to do something about our situation.”

Adeola who lost a brother said: “For me, the anniversary should not be a time to just pour emotions and cry, but to examine what we have learnt since the incident. Yes, we went through the corona’s inquest, but what has happened since then? We have not learnt anything.”

Adeola said she received a text message informing her of the first year remembrance service and asking her to send a response to “Special Duties” if she wanted an invitation.

“We all should be bothered on how these things are going,” she observed. “We all fly. If you don’t fly, your family member or someone you know flies. We all need to do something.”

She added: “Moving forward, what do we do? Even with the site, what is happening? From what we have heard at the inquest, what have we done to correct the lapses? Some days after the crash, we had a situation where Dana officials were visiting bereaved families with a letter of condolence in the one hand and another letter of compensation on the other. You are coming to the bereaved and asking them to sign the letter straightaway?

“Even Dana, as an organization, does not have a clue as how to deal with people. That is why some families were chasing them out with cutlasses and other things. Many families that I was in touch with have signed some documents, waving some of their rights, because they are illiterates. At the mortuary, I found that out from the families.

“To be fair to them, in Nigeria, most of them don’t know how to handle issues at times like this. I live in the United Kingdom and when it (crash) happened, my company offered me counseling straightaway.”

In the aftermath of the incident, rescue agencies spent two days retrieving and documenting some personal belongings of the victims. The items include phones, bags, wallets, money, jewelries, shoes, documents among others, all of which had not been declared till date. Adeola asked: “how come we have not been able to go and check if, (for instance), I can find something like my brother’s Identification Card or something? That has not come up so far.”

For Okafor, another victim, the story is not different. She said: “Since that incident, life has been extremely tough. We cannot even afford enough to get a befitting apartment to live ever since. The most painful part of the whole story is the fact that we keep reading and hearing that the victims have been compensated, whereas we have not got anything from Dana’s management.

“The only money they gave was the N200, 000 they gave to us about one month after the incident. The only thing we have been hearing is that they are still working on the updates from their insurance company and this has been their song for months. As I speak with you, nothing positive has been done to that effect. Everywhere we go, people will be telling us that our compensation has been paid, but that is not the case. It has been very devastating for us.”

Corroborating Okafor’s statement, Chike Okwuosa, another victim and member of the Community Development Association of the area, disclosed that instead of paying the actual compensation, the management of the airline has been talking about the updates they are compiling.

He said: “We have done so much and yet no positive result. As if the situation is not bad enough, there has been another havoc done to us in this area. They have been pulling down our fences in the name of constructing the roads. This added more to our frustration. We have decided to do a petition to the Lagos State government on DANA, so that the government can help us use their good office to instruct DANA to pay up the compensations.

Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha said the National Assembly was not satisfied with the compensation paid by Dana Airline to the victims of the June 3, 2012 crash so far. Onyejeocha said: “We need to invite NCAA and know how far they have gone. I read in the papers that only few families have been compensated and I felt very bad.

Next of Kin without a Will

Death is one subject matter many people are afraid of talking about, yet it is inevitable.  Some individuals draft their Wills stipulating whom their assets, including houses, land and property should go to. Others die without drafting a Will. When this happens, they are deemed to have died intestate.

Intestacy means the deceased died without making a Will, in which case, the Law of Intestacy takes effect in determining who the property should go to and the order of priority.

The Guardian learnt that some families are yet to present a common front to make claims for their relations.  Some eight families are believed to be in this category. In some cases, there were many people who came forward to make claims of being the next of kin, brothers and uncles to victims of the accident.

By Friday May 24, only 95 out of 125 families had received the initial payment of $30, 000. About 21 of the families have just submitted documents from the Probate Registry for full compensation. If they receive the final payment of $100,000, it would bring the total number of families fully compensated to 32.