Mangalore Air crash: Delhi meeting gives new hope to kin
 of air crash victims

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, 19 November 2011: Hopes of a fair compensation for relatives of Mangalore air crash victims were rekindled on Friday after senior officials promised them all support during a key meeting held in New Delhi.

A group of relatives of the crash victims from Mangalore, Kerala and Dubai, who attended the meeting called by India’s Minister for Civil Aviation and Overseas Affairs Vayalar Ravi, expressed hope that their 18-month long fight for justice would pay off after the meeting. More than half of the families of the Air India Express crash victims have been fighting for fair compensation as per international laws.

 

 

“We had a one-hour discussion with the officials and the meeting ended on a positive note,” said Narayanan Nair K, vice-president of the Mangalore Crash Victims’ Families Association.

Speaking from New Delhi, Nair said top-level officials who attended the meeting promised the families that they would reach an amicable settlement very soon. “They have promised to come down to Mangalore and meet all of us at the earliest and solve the issue within one month. There would be some more rounds of talks.”

He said  chief operating officer of Air India Express S Chandrakumar regretted the delay in disbursing the compensation.

However, Narayanan said the new development will not affect a decision to appeal the Kerala High Court’s verdict in favour Air India.  “If the new promise of a fair deal is not kept within the timeframe, all the families that are yet to be compensated will approach the Supreme Court’s division bench. We clarified this with the minister today,” he added.

As many as 158 people including six crew were killed when the Air India Express flight from Dubai overshot the runway in Mangalore on May 22, 2010. Only eight passengers survived.

Air India and its attorneys would hold regular hearings to expedite the claim cases of 83 affected families, official sources said, adding that these hearings would be held in an expeditious manner.

The claims of 75 victims’ next of kin have already been settled, they said. A division bench of the Kerala High Court had held that Air India was liable to pay only actual damages proved by the claimants in case of death and the victims in case of injury.

Maintaining that unnecessary litigation be avoided, the bench had said the liability can be determined through negotiated settlement or by civil court of competitive jurisdiction, while allowing an appeal filed by Air India.

If no settlement is possible, actual damages can be determined by the civil court, the bench had observed.