Small victory for families of air crash victims

Lawyer says disclosure came too late for families who wanted legal action

KARACHI: For the first time in its history, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has publicly released investigation reports into fatal passenger aircraft accidents.

Over the past nine years, families of 324 passengers and crew killed in accidents, involving aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Airblue and Bhoja Air, have led a bitter and painful struggle to make this happen.

Public disclosure would not have been possible without the civilian-run Aviation Division, which has been overseeing the industry since its formation in 2013. As long as aviation affairs remained with the defence ministry, investigation reports were treated as a national secret in contradiction with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) rules, which call on governments to release the findings at the earliest.

Abdul Razzak, a lawyer, fought the longest of these battles for release of one such investigation.  Razzak lost his brother when the PIA Fokker went down in 2006 on the outskirts of Multan with 45 people on board. All passengers were killed.

"My application for its release was pending for seven years even though  the report was completed in 2007." he said

Every time he approached the government to make that happen, he was told that the decision was awaiting approval of competent authority – the prime minister.

The families of 152 people killed in the Air Blue's ill-fated crash in 2010 went through a similar ordeal.

However, they still generated enough pressure for a censored-version of the report to be released in 2012. The same report is now available on the CAA website.

Experts say public disclosure of investigations helps in accountability of responsible departments and ultimately contributes towards improving air safety.

But Razzak says the disclosure has come a little too late for families who wanted to sue aircraft manufacturers and airlines in international courts.

While nothing can make up for the loss of a human life, financial compensation can potentially help families, but airlines and their insurers get away with paying minimum compensation, said Razzak.

"We could have dragged these airlines in US courts and proved that it was the collective fault of the airline and supplier of the aircraft and its components that resulted in loss of life."

As per general legal precedent, this should have been done within two years of the accident. "I suspect everyone gets a cut to hush up the truth."

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2015.