Today marks the fourth anniversary of the crash of Dana plane Flight 9J922 at Iju-Ishaga on the outskirts of Lagos metropolis. The plane was flying from Abuja to Lagos when it crashed into a printing works and residential buildings and burst into flames.
But today, widows, widowers, children, relatives and friends of the victims will throng the crash site to remember their beloved ones. However, four years after what is said to be the worst plane crash in the country in which 153 passengers on board and 10 other Nigerians on the ground were killed, many of the victims’ families said they were still battling to collect compensation for their loved ones.
But airline’s spokesman, Kingsley Ezeanyawu, told our correspondent yesterday that the company’s insurers would not have treated any of the families unfairly.
According to him, there are issues of documentation that need to be resolved before they can be paid what is due to them Some of them, who pleaded anonymity, said the insurers had been talking with them with a view to paying when documentations were properly done. One of them said: “Payment of compensation was moved from Dana Air to their insurance company.
My own lawyers have been talking with the lawyers that represent Dana and their insurance company. It took them two years to pay the 10 per cent which was mandatory that they would have paid to cover the cost of funeral arrangement.
“It even took the intervention of my lawyer in London to actually compel them to pay the 10 per cent because they were not ready to pay. Apart from the 10 per cent, I have not received any additional payment and they didn’t give us any time frame when to pay the balance but I have handed over the issue to my lawyer.”
