Air crash victims' kin to sue Airbus

A lawsuit is to be filed against Airbus Industrie by the families of the victims of Gulf Air's Airbus A320's flight 072 which crashed off the coast of Muharraq on August 23 last year, killing all the 135 passengers and eight crew aboard.

According to French attorney, R. Martin-Chico, his firm, Martin Chico and Associates, would soon file a civil liability suit in the French court in Toulouse, the headquarters of the Airbus Industries, charging the Bahraini pilot, Ihsan Shakeeb, with "wrongful misconduct" and challenging the engineering design of the Airbus A320.

An agreement has already been signed for Martin-Chico and Associates to represent the legal heirs of most of the victims' families.

Martin-Chico, who is in consultation with attorneys from Gulf Air's London-based legal counsel, Beaumont and Son, stated that he would like to settle the case out of court, but his firm was not yet ready to make a financial proposal on behalf of the families.

He and aviation attorney specialist, Carlos Villacorta Salis from Madrid, were in Bahrain to review the case with members of the Victims Family Committee, which represents the families of the 36 Bahrainis who died in the disaster.

He also stated that the 90-page factual report, compiled by a group of 25 sub-group committees and released on April 1, did not satisfactorily address several serious issues, although he acknowledged that it stated that there were no anomalies with the aircraft.

He said the report contained all aspects of the investigation but did not draw any conclusion and didn't find any fault with the aircraft or the engines.

This report, submitted to National Transportation Board Assistant Deputy Director, Frank Hilldrup, who headed the investigation, included the technical investigation committee's cockpit voice, recorded/flight data recorder, air worthiness and operations sub-group findings.

He said the report offered "no negative evidence" other than confirming that there were no human or technical faults.

He also stated that he would not wait for the release of the final report for the Accident Investigation Board.

Earlier, a National Committee appointed by the government and headed by Justice and Islamic Affairs Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalid Al Khalifa, to look into the needs of the families of victims, stated that it had decided to pay BD10,000 for each man or woman, and BD 7,000 for each son or daughter killed in this crash to enable their families to meet their immediate needs besides waiving debts of the victims with the Housing, Municipalities and Environment Ministry, Pension Fund Commission and the General Organisation for Social Insurance.

The committee, which decided to form a sub-committee to provide the required care for those orphaned, requested the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry to carry out a study on the financial, social and psychological condition of the affected families to help them overcome the situation, in coordination with the Bahrain Red Crescent Society.

Gulf Air also announced an immediate payment of $ 25,000 to the families of the victims and set up a special unit to handle all relevant correspondence with the families of the victims.