Inquest To Occur On Tuesday April 8th At Warrington Town Hall

Specialist aviation lawyers representing the families of several Britons killed in a plane crash in Nepal two years ago have revealed their hopes that tomorrow’s inquest into their deaths will both provide further answers regarding the cause of the tragedy and emphasise the need for flight safety improvements in the country.

Timothy Oakes of Winwick, near Warrington, Benjamin Ogden of Buckingham, and Steve Holding of Stoke-on-Trent, were among 19 passengers (seven of which were British) and crew killed when a Sita Air-operated Dornier 228 aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Kathmandu-Tribhuvan Airport in September 2012.

The official accident report into the crash, released in August last year, highlighted a series of issues including the overloading of the aircraft, concerns over the training of pilots to handle emergency conditions and the pilots failing to use the correct speeds at take-off.  Following this report and after calls by Irwin Mitchell's Aviation Law Team, the European Commission agreed to ban all Nepalese airlines from flying to Europe.

Irwin Mitchell’s Aviation Law team will be representing five British families at the upcoming one-day inquest on Tuesday April 8th at Warrington Town Hall.

The specialist lawyers, who represent the victims and families of those killed in air accidents across the world, are pursuing civil claims against Explore Worldwide Ltd – the English tour operator that sold the victim’s their holidays and selected Sita Air to provide the internal flights in Nepal. 

The aviation team formally initiated the claim against Explore Worldwide in April 2013 and in December 2013 the tour operator admitted liability in respect of the crash in accordance with the Package and Travel Regulations 1992.  Irwin Mitchell's Aviation Law Team and Explore’s lawyers are now in the process of seeking to agree the level of damages to be paid to the families and loved ones of those who were killed.

Jim Morris, a former RAF pilot and Partner in Irwin Mitchell’s Aviation Law team, will represent families at the inquest. He commented today:

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in Aviation Accident Claims.