South Supreme Airlines demands black box information before compensating plane crash victims

(radiotamazuj.org)

The Proprietor of South Supreme Airlines, Ayii Duang Ayii, on Wednesday, said his company has not refused to compensate the victims of the Pieri Plane crash that killed 10 people including crew members.

Addressing journalists in Juba, Duang said the company would first want to know the cause of the crash from the plane’s black box before making any compensation but that the court has not been patient with them.

He complained that the ruling of the judge was supposed to be per South Sudan`s laws but that it ruled unfairly awarding each victim USD 170,000.

“South Sudan Supreme Airlines and its administration did not say we are not going to compensate the victims, we said that the court should be patient in implementing the orders of the court,” he said. “We said we want to know the cause of the accident. The plane took cargo to Pieri and on its way back, there were supposed to be two crew members onboard. We told the court that we first wanted to know the cause of the plane crash from the information obtained from the black box. Let the black box tell what caused the accident.”

According to Duang, there were not supposed to be any passengers on board the plane on its return journey to Juba. 

“How did the passengers enter the plane? Did they attack the captain? As South Supreme Airlines, we want the black box to first tell us the cause of the accident and we are surprised that the judge did not give us the chance and ruled out of the laws of the country,” he stated. “We said that the ruling of the court has no problem and we respect the law and the law is for everyone. We will respect the law and do as is needed.”

Duang also avers that the ruling of the court for the airline to pay USD 170,000 per victim is unfair and that they will continue to appeal the ruling until a fair figure is reached.