Inquest: DANA Airline absent in court

A Lagos State Coroner, Mr Oyetade Komolafe, has expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of representatives of DANA Airlines at the ongoing inquest into the crash of one of its aircraft.Komolafe made this known on Thursday while presiding over the inquest being held at the Magistrate's Court 5, sitting in Oke-Odo, under the Ikeja jurisdiction.

The plane crashed into a residential area at Iju, Ishaga area of Lagos on June 3, killing all 153 passengers and crew on board, as well as some residents on the ground.

The inquest is at the instance of a Lagos-based law firm, Falana and Falana Chambers, who had petitioned the Lagos State Chief Coroner, Justice Lateefat Okunnu, for an inquiry into the crash.

At the resumption of proceedings on Thursday, most of the interested parties and those summoned, had their counsel and representatives in court.

Among those represented by their counsel were Minister of Aviation, Princess Stella Oduah; National Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN); and the Nigeria Police Force.

It also included Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Lagos State Fire Service, Lagos State Emergency Management Authority (LASEMA) and the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Mr Ade Ipaye.

Others were the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Cleanserve Oil, Sahara Oil, MRS Oil and counsel to the families of victims of the crash.

However, Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom, who was also summoned by the inquest, was not represented in court.

Komolafe noted that Dana Airlines did not send any legal or official representative to the inquest, stressing that the airline could not claim ignorance of the proceedings.

He said, ``If you are summoned and you are not here, you can be arrested, they cannot claim that they are not aware because there was a publication in a national newspaper about it.’’

The coroner explained that the inquest was a fact-finding inquiry to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the crash in order to forestall future occurrence.

Komolafe said, ``it is a fact that there was a plane crash and that some persons are responsible for the crash.

``One of the interested party said that the aircraft was not air worthy and yet it was allowed to fly, which led to the death of the passengers and some persons on the ground.

``The inquest is going to take the opinion of experts on what led to the crash and we are going to look at these holistically and come up with something concrete.’’

The coroner said that the inquest would take oral evidence from all eye witnesses and officials who were willing to come before the court to testify.

He also advised the lawyers who wanted to make written depositions from their witnesses to serve them on all parties before the next adjournment date fixed for July 16.

Addressing the court, Mrs Funmi Falana appealed to the Lagos State Judiciary to publicise the inquest in order to create awareness for more persons to come forward and testify.

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