Expert Aviation Lawyers Have Called On The Nigerian AIB To Release The Final Accident Report

The devastated families of victims of the Dana Air crash in Lagos, Nigeria, in June 2012, have written to the Nigerian Minister for Aviation and the Minister for Transport as four years on they are still waiting for the final accident report to be published by the relevant authorities.

The families along with expert lawyers at law firm Irwin Mitchell, who along with US and Nigerian lawyers represent 26 families who lost loved ones on the Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft, which crashed on its final approach to Lagos Airport, sent the letters on 2^nd September 2016 to encourage the Nigerian Air Investigation Bureau (AIB) to facilitate the release of the report.

More than 150 passengers were killed in the crash, along with six crew and ten members of the public on the ground.

Preliminary investigation suggest the crash was caused by a loss of power from the engines, but the exact cause of any power loss and key evidence from the Cockpit Voice Recorder, which survived the crash, has not yet been revealed.

Many of the families who lost loved ones in the flight are still waiting for the final accident report to be published four years after the tragedy. The delays have prevented families understanding what caused the plane to crash.

The failure to publish the report has also meant that potentially important lessons about flight safety may not have been learned; lessons which might prevent a similar disaster being repeated.

Clive Garner, a Partner and head of Irwin Mitchell’s International Personal Injury and Aviation Law team, said:

Expert Opinion

“The Dana Air crash in 2012 led to the death of more than 150 passengers and crew. It is astonishing that the families who lost loved ones in this tragedy are still waiting for answers about the circumstances that led to the crash. No good reason has been given for the extreme delays in publication of the report.” Clive Garner - Consultant

In the 3rd interim report published on 3rd June 2015, the Nigerian Air Investigation Bureau stated:

“The draft final report is ready and has been sent for the mandatory 60 days as prescribed in the Annex 13 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chapter 6.3) for comments and or suggestions.  Four new safety recommendations were made to the appropriate stakeholders.  The report will be released to the public accordingly in due course.”

In the 4^th interim report published on 3/6/16, the AIB stated:

“The Draft Final Report was sent for 60 days Stakeholders’ review for comments and suggestions in accordance with ICAO Annex 13 chapter 6.3. The issues raised by the Stakeholders, which required further scientific testing have almost completely been addressed and the Final Report will be made public very soon.”

Expert Opinion

“The lack of information has been extremely distressing and has meant that many of those who lost loved ones in the crash have been unable to achieve closure. Added to this, the delay in publication of the report has meant families have been unable to conclude their claims for compensation arising from the Dana Air disaster. We wrote to the Nigerian Ministers for Aviation and Transport on 2 September 2016 in the hope that they will take every possible step to ensure that the accident report is released immediately. We have not yet received a response.

“While nothing can ever bring back those who died in the crash, we are determined to support the families in securing the answers that they need and the justice that they deserve.” Clive Garner - Consultant

Mrs Oluwatoyin Olumodeji, a mother-of-two, who lost her husband in the crash, said: “It's been over four years of being in darkness, of not knowing what actually caused the fatal Dana air crash.

My children always ask what caused the crash that took away their loving dad from them and it's devastating that I still don't know the cause of the crash and can’t give them the answers they are looking for.

I am pleading for the authorities to allow the children, myself and the entire family to put closure to this loss by letting us know exactly the cause of the crash.”

Onyinye Okocha, a mother-of-one who also lost her husband in the 2012 crash, said: “Whenever my daughter and I fly on a plane she always asks me why the plane her father was on crashed and what happened to him.

Sadly, I still have to tell her that I don’t know. We want to know what caused the crash so we can put an end to the questions we all have about what happened. We need closure.

It's been a long four years and there are so many unanswered questions tormenting our minds. We hope the accident report will finally be released and that it will contain the answers we have been waiting so long for.”

Irwin Mitchell Aviation Law has over four decades of experience in handling aviation claims for passengers and crew involved in aviation accidents around the world. For more information visit our Air Accident Claims Page or our Dana Air Accident page for more information.