Dana Crash Victims’ Families May Sue FG for Negligence – Femi Falana

Renowned human rights campaigner and lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana recently disclosed that victims of the Dana Air Crash are entitled to receive more than $ 100,000.

The clarification was made by him over the weekend after several media reports made the rounds last week that the victims’ families would receive $ 100,000.

According to a statement prepared by Mr. Falana, the $ 100,000 is a minimum liability payable by the airline and its insurance companies as a result of Article 17 of the Montreal Convention.

The statement reads, “The said sum of $100,000 is the first tier  payment otherwise known as Special Drawing Right under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention. It is not an extra payment but a strict liability amount payable under the Convention which has been domesticated in Nigeria.”

It hampered on the fact that the $ 100,000 payment does not hamper on the rights of the victims’ families to sue Dana or the Federal Government for negligence which resulted in the plane crash and severe loss of life.

It added, “The dependants of the deceased are also entitled to special  and general damages which may not be less than N100 million per passenger depending on the responsibilities borne by each of them in their lifetime. Such amount of money  for loss of expectation of life is payable   by Dana Airline for gross negligence arising from the plane with defective dual engines and the Federal Government for failure to enforce the relevant regulations, failure to provide emergency landing for the plane and the inexplicable delay in providing the fire service equipment and medical services and other acts of  gross negligence which led to the avoidable death of the passengers and the crew.”

“The dependants of the  members of the public who were killed at the site of the crash are equally entitled to a greater amount of compensatory damages because the deprivation of the  fundamental right to life of such persons is illegal and unconstitutional.”