Aviation Nigeria
The Ministry of Aviation has rejected reports in the media that Dana Air is reluctant to pay family members of the June 3rd 2012 Dana air crash victims claiming compensation is per family and not per passenger.
A statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Aviation, Joe Obi reads “Recently, we have come across disturbing reports in the media quoting some family members of the victims of the Dana air crash of June 3rd, 2012 to the effect that the airline is reluctant or unwilling to pay mandatory compensation to legitimate victims’ families per passenger”
“The reports suggest that Dana airlines, in instances where more than one family member was a victim of the crash, allegedly said it is paying compensation per family, not per passenger as required by law and extant local and international Civil Aviation Regulations.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, compensation for air crash victims is per passenger, not per family. In situations where several family members are victims, as is the case with the Dana crash, compensation is to be paid according to the number of persons involved and not per family as is being alleged against Dana Airline in some media reports. Neither Dana, nor any other airline for that matter can alter this rule.
The Aviation ministry noted that “Specifically, Section 48(3) of the Civil Aviation Act of 2006 provides that in any case of aircraft accident resulting in death or injury of passengers, the carrier shall make advance payments of at least US $30,000 within 30 days from the date of the accident to the natural persons or such natural persons entitled to claim compensation.
“Additionally, Article 17 of the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, under the Second Schedule to the Civil Aviation Act of 2006, holds the carrier liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger.
It further stated that “Article 21 of the Modifications to the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air, under the Third Schedule to the Civil Aviation Act of 2006, commands the payment of the sum not exceeding 100,000.00 United States Dollars for each passenger in case of death.
The statement reiterated that compensation is to individual passengers; “Note that the operative words are ”each passenger”. It will therefore be a violent violation of the law for any airline to do otherwise”.
The Ministry warned the general public, especially family members of victims of the Dana crash to “disregard any rumour, excuse or explanation contrary to the foregoing”.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Aviation is working with Dana Airline and the Insurance companies to resolve all lingering issues and expedite the process of payment of full compensation to legitimate family members and Next of Kin of the victims.
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