Dana Crash: Lawyers Partnering with Victims’ Families to Demand Higher Compensation

Families of the victims of the tragic Dana Air Flight 0992 which killed all the 153 persons on board, including six crew members on June 3 in Lagos yesterday insisted that the compensation that should be paid by the airline must be more than $100,000 (about N16 million) which is the minimum allowed by the Montreal Convention and they are now working with lawyers to secure higher compensation from the airline.

This is coming as the preliminary report of the tragic crash showed that the accident was not caused by fuel contamination, contrary to reports that quoted experts which indicated that contaminated fuel might have been responsible for the crash.

Although $100,000 compensation for each victim was adopted by Nigeria as enshrined in the 2006 Civil Aviation Act, the lawyers who attended a forum organised by Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI),  a non-government organisation, at the Muson Centre in Lagos,  yesterday vowed to partner with the families of the victims of the crash to secure higher compensation.

Arguing that airlines involved in crashes in Africa don’t pay enough compensation to the relatives of the victims, the lawyers said this might be a contributory factor  to why air crashes in the continent are more frequent. The lawyers, whose position on the matter was presented by a representative of NLI , Ajibola Dalley, explained that the minimum claim is different from punitive claim, which the relatives of the victims and their lawyers  promised to pursue, insisting that $100,000 cannot compensate for each of the most promising Nigerians who lost their youthful lives in the crash.

The lawyers and relatives of the victims also expressed doubt about the claim of the damage of the Flight Data Recorder (popularly known as black box) , saying in all the accidents in recent times in Nigeria, the equipment was either missing or melted, as the preliminary report on the Dana Air crashed released by the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) claimed.

An official of NLI, Jim Morrison, said  the Flight Data Recorder is so designed that it can withstand very harsh conditions “but they are not indestructible.”

Also Wikipedia, an online free encyclopedia, describes the device as carefully engineered and stoutly constructed to withstand the force of a high speed impact and the heat of an intense fire and that the FDR is coated with heat resistant bright orange paint for high visibility in wreckage.

Meanwhile, the preliminary report on the crash has revealed that fuel contamination was not responsible for the crash. “Fueling records indicated the airplane was uplifted with 8000 lbs of fuel before departure from ABV (Abuja).


The flight crew reported to ATC (Air Traffic Control) they had 26,000 lbs of total fuel. Preliminary analysis of fuel samples from the refueling truck and the supply tank at ABV were negative for contamination,” the report noted.

It also said there was collection and review of fuel samples and “reconstructing the aircraft refueling, and collection of related fuel samples, and interviews of relevant personnel.”