What relatives of plane crash victims may be paid after disaster

Dar es Salaam. Relatives of people killed in last Sunday’s crash of a Precision Air plane could potentially receive at least $129,000 (about Sh300 million) for each victim if they follow the right compensation procedure in accordance with international best practices governing the aviation industry, according to experts.

The plane carrying 39 passengers (38 adults and an infant) and four crew members crashed into Lake Victoria in Bukoba at 8.53am as it flew in from Dar es Salaam. Nineteen people died in the crash, while 24 survived.

According to the chairman of the Association of Tanzania Insurers, Mr Khamis Suleiman, in line with the principles of strict liability, the relatives of each person who dies in a plane crash are entitled to a payment of $129,000.

“Under the strict liability rules, as detailed in aviation conventions, one is required to be paid 100,000 SDR (Special Drawing Rights), which is equivalent to $129,000 if the country is a signatory to the Warsaw Convention and if the airline turns out that it was not negligent,” he told The Citizen yesterday.
He said the amount could increase, considering that the victims would be free to go to court and demand compensation in line with the level of damages they may claim to have suffered in the process.
 “You are talking of an incident where there were some young professionals who had just been employed. Their relatives would be free to request payment in line with their specified reason and damage as may be verified by a competent authority,” he noted.

Mr Suleiman said since the system of insuring aircraft is largely through a reinsurance arrangement between a local insurance firm and a foreign one, the proceeds of the accident would be retained locally.

Those who sustained injuries in the accident would also be free to claim some compensation if so they wish to.

The managing director of Allied Insurance Brokers Tanzania Limited (AIBT), Mr David Nolan, said it was difficult to determine the right amount to be paid in compensation for victims of the accident.

“There is no correct answer to a very difficult question and one that, of course, is loaded with emotion,” he told The Citizen. 

Initially, he said, the airlines’ insurers may seek to settle with the victims’ families to avoid lengthy court cases and legal fees. This would, however, involve only immediate dependents and spouses who would be entitled to the claims.

“If, however, the family is not happy with the offer, they can proceed to file legal claims against the airline or any other party they feel is responsible for the loss. This is often done as a class action whereby many of the victims’ families come together,” he said.

He said it was due to similar circumstances that Ukrainian families from the Netherlands received considerably more than the families of Chinese people who were also involved in the crash of a Malaysian Airlines.

“The compensation amounts vary widely based on the above parameters,” he said, insisting that the airline carrier does, however, have a “strict” liability to pay any compensation amount up to a certain limit regardless of the circumstances of the loss.
The Montreal Convention is a multilateral treaty signed in 1999 to establish airline liability in the case of death or injury to passengers.
The strict liability limit imposed on the carrier is approximately $145,000. The United Republic of Tanzania ratified the treaty in 2003. The Montreal Convention, however, only applies to international travel.

Domestic flights are governed by Tanzania’s Civil Aviation (Carriage by Air) Regulations, 2008, under the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Act 1977. This legislation sets a strict liability limit of $120,000 per passenger.

On the other hand, aviation insurance expert Panachelius Pancras said there are laws governing the aviation industry globally in case an accident occurs and how the victims should be compensated. In this case, however, Precision Air was responsible for claiming compensation.

“That was purely a plane crash, which is required to be covered by insurance…the important thing here is that those who are required to be compensated should cooperate with insurance experts to guide them on how to make sense of the payment,” he noted.

The plane accidents are very complex in terms of compensation, he said, noting that environmentalists may also say that there was an oil spill and they may need to be paid as well.

He said the payments depend on how the victims will issue the documents that show how the accident has caused them problems and their families, for instance, how they lost promising family members like doctors and others.
The public relations and communications manager for the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (Tira), Mr Eliezer Rweikiza, said the insurance regulator would work with those who were personally involved in the accident and those who lost loved ones to ensure that they receive compensation in line with the law.

“If any disaster occurs, an investigation is done first, and after that, insurance measures follow. We are waiting for the process to take place so that they can all be effectively compensated,” he said.
On the other hand, insurance claims handler Michael Emmanuel said that from the insurance perspective and directives by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) every airline was required to have in place insurance coverage for aircraft that would cover the hull as well as a liability cover to protect third parties that may suffer uncertainties brought about by misfortunes like that one.

He said the insurance fraternity had a big role to play as far as risk improvement measures were concerned before taking up aviation risks domestically. A prudent underwriter will also have to assess the aircraft’s maintenance records.

French experts investigating the crash

The government confirmed on Tuesday that experts from France have already arrived and have joined Tanzanian experts in conducting investigations into the cause of the accident.
“Basically, plane accident investigations take time, but experience shows that they take between one and two months to complete,” the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works and Transport, Mr Gabriel Migire, told Mwananchi yesterday.

He noted that preliminary reports show that the accident was caused by bad weather during landing.

He noted, however, that the comprehensive investigation, involving Tanzanian and French experts, would involve getting information from flight data decoders and cockpit voice recorders, among others.
International media outlets reported on Monday that a team from France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) air accident investigation agency, along with technical advisers from Franco-Italian planemaker ATR, were on their way to Tanzania to assist in the investigations.

According to a BEA spokesman, the media reported that the Bureau was sending a team to Tanzania along with technical advisers from ATR.
Under international rules, the locally-led investigation would usually include the participation of authorities in France, where the plane was designed, and Canada, where its Pratt & Whitney engines were manufactured.
ATR said it was “fully engaged to support the customer and the investigation”.
Experts say most plane crashes are caused by a cocktail of factors that take months to understand fully.

ATR is the company that built the ATR 42-500 turboprop.
Precision Air is one of the biggest ATR customers in Africa.
In December 2011, Precision and ATR signed a $98 million contract for the former to purchase four ATR 42-600s and one ATR 72-600.

Delivery of the 50-seat ATR 42-600s was to start in late 2012.
The ATR 72-600 was scheduled to be delivered in 2014.