Associated Plane survivor demands compensation

By Chuks Okoh
One of the cabin crew members who survived the Associated Air accident of October 3, 2013, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Sampson has appealed to the management of the airline to pay her compensation for the injury she sustained during the crash.
In a statement she made available to journalists at the 2nd Engineer Zakariya Haruna Memorial Lecture held in Lagos , Sampson alleged that the airline, which is working towards resumption of operations, had left her to her fate after she returned from South Africa where she was treated.
“As a result of the crash, I sustained pelvic dislocation, fracture of the distal left radius, blunt chest and abdominal injuries.
“According to the medical report from the hospital in South Africa, I was declared to be in need of continual intensive and extensive physiotherapy rehabilitation and pain management in order to be functional again. The management of Associated Aviation never did anything about this.
“My family (members) were the one buying the drugs when the drugs given to me from South Africa finished (sic). Then I decided to ask for my one and half month salary that they have owed me since 2012 when the company was temporarily suspended in June 2012 which they paid me in January. When they started paying the 30 per cent insurance to the families of the deceased, I called the company’s spokesman about my resettlement and he said I should go and get a lawyer.
“My lawyer wrote a letter to the company and copied the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). To my surprise, the spokesman to the company told my lawyer on the phone that I am not a staff of Association Aviation. He said that according to the Geneva law that I am not going to be compensated because I am alive and I did not suffer any loss or permanent injury, that I will only be compensated on compassionate grounds, if possible,” she said.
In its reaction, a staff of the company who craved anonymity acknowledged that fourcounsel to the complainant had written to the airline.
“We are already looking at the issues raised by the lady.(At the )appropriate time, we will come up with something,” he said.