This article overviews the recent opening of the Yemenia Y626 lawsuit and international law’s take on liability in plane accidents.
In the night from the 29th to the 30th of June 2009, the flight Yemenia Y626 crashed in the Indian Ocean near the Comoros just before it was supposed to land in Moroni. The crash caused the death of 152 people, with only one survivor. The lawsuit for unvoluntary homicide and bodily injury recently started on the 9th of May 2022 in Paris, 13 years after the crash.
Beyond being the lawsuit of the Yemenia Airways crash, this is the lawsuit of what we commonly call “trash-planes”. The trial is judging the rush for profits from the airway companies, putting aside the safety of their crew and passengers to reduce costs.
The lawsuit is aimed to determine liability of the plane crash, but with the current situation in Yemen, the investigation has been difficult and delayed multiple times. The French investigation teams have accused Yemen of not being cooperative and of putting pressure to protect their national airway. (France Télévision, 2022)
So how is liability determined in international plane crashes?
Many conventions regulate the sanctions and liability for death or injury in air carriage such as: (Luftrecht-Online, 1929), the Montreal Convention, the Montreal Protocol (1, 2 and 3), and the UN laws. They help to determine the damage caused, the sanctions, the compensations but also liability. Numerous parties normally share the responsibility including: the pilot when a pilot error occurs, the owner or plane operator, the plane manufacturer…
In the trial, Yemenia airways is accused of having been negligent towards its passengers’ safety, and breaking the ICAO Safety laws (Kotaite, 2005), dependent of the United Nations. This issue had been reported before the accident by passengers who declared “having no or broken seatbelts”, “broken chairs”, hearing “strange noises from the plane” or having very turbulent flights (Burnett, Safety Calls on Comoros Crash, 2009). In this case, Yemenia Airways is accused of having continued night flights to Moroni despite the lighting failures at the airport, which was known of by the company (Griessel, 2022). Moreover, the company has also been accused of not having trained its pilots properly, not teaching them how to react to difficult conditions and stress (Griessel, Catastrophe aérienne, 2022).
However the main reason of the crash was that the pilots had to change airstrip because of the wind in the Comoros and according to the “International Journal of Air Law and Commerce”, the government’s liability can be induced for faulty weather information but only if the “the pilot’s subsequent opportunity to escape or avoid any peril occasioned by the negligent government conduct” is null (P.Alimonti, 1995).
We know as a fact that the communication between the pilots and the airport was faulty and made difficult because of the language barrier. So, would the accident have been avoided if there had been better communication? Was there faulty weather information, in which case the Comoros Government could be liable?
Only the trial will bring answers to these questions.
Bibliography
France Télévision. (2022). Crash du vol Yemenia 626. Paris.
Luftrecht-Online. (1929, October 12). Retrieved from Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to international carriageby air, signed at Warsaw on 12 october 1929: https://www.dhl.com/content/dam/dhl/local/at/dhl-global-forwarding/documents/pdf/at-global-forwarding-warsaw-convention-en.pdf
Kotaite, D. A. (2005, September 30). Runway Safety Toolit CD-ROM. Retrieved from ICAO: https://applications.icao.int/tools/RSP_ikit/story_content/external_files/rnwytlkt_en.pdf
Burnett, V. (2009, July 4). Safety calls on Comoros crash. Retrieved from The sydney Morning Herald: https://www.smh.com.au/world/safety-calls-on-comoros-crash-20090704-d870.html
Burnett, V. (2009, July 4). Safety Calls on Comoros Crash. Retrieved from The Syndey Morning Herald: https://www.smh.com.au/world/safety-calls-on-comoros-crash-20090704-d870.html
Griessel, A. (2022, May 9). Catastrophe aérienne. Retrieved from Franceinter: https://www.franceinter.fr/justice/catastrophe-aerienne-le-proces-de-l-accident-d-avion-de-yemenia-airways-en-2009-s-ouvre-a-paris
Griessel, A. (2022, May 9). Catastrophe aérienne. Retrieved from FranceInter: https://www.franceinter.fr/justice/catastrophe-aerienne-le-proces-de-l-accident-d-avion-de-yemenia-airways-en-2009-s-ouvre-a-paris
P.Alimonti, F. (1995). Journal of Air Law and Commerce. Retrieved from scholar: https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1380&context=jalc
Comments