Airblue crash report awaits Prime Minister's approval

The Airblue plane crash inquiry report 2010 by the Defence Ministry is subject to Prime Minister's approval and Defence Ministry has been seeking an appointment with him before making the report public, sources added. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani postponed a meeting with officials of Defence Ministry, scheduled for July 28, at the eleventh hour.
Without giving the next date it was conveyed to Ministry of Defence that the meeting could not take place due to heavy official engagements of the head of government. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) presented the findings of Airblue plane crash to Ministry of Defence last month. Since then, the Ministry has continuously been requesting the Prime Minister's Secretariat for a meeting. It has been learnt that the CAA has completed the inquiry report after the passage of one year without fixing any responsibility. The report could be made public with the help of international agencies, sources said, adding that it took into account the possibilities of collision with a bird, human error or terrorism. The investigation also looked into possible administrative negligence as one of the reasons behind the tragedy.
According to a CAA statement, experts and agencies from Germany, France and the US took part in investigations. There were six crew members and 152 passengers in the aircraft, the report says. The unfortunate flight took off at 7:41 am on July 28, 2010 from Karachi to Islamabad and crashed in the Margalla Hills. There were no survivors of the ill-fated flight.
Airblue spokesperson Raheel Ahmed said each of some 50 of the victims' families have been paid Rs 5 million so far. The announcement of the compensation package was delayed only because the management was negotiating with the insurance company to ensure maximum compensation. Each family is being given Rs 5 million in addition to 0.5 million given earlier, the Airblue official claimed.
Airblue has made full payment to only those families of the victims who have fulfilled their legal requirements, which includes a succession certificate. The airline claims that only 60 people have submitted these certificates, of which 50 people have been paid the full amount. These 50 do not include the two American nationals who were also onboard. In its recent meeting, the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Human Rights issued directions for making payment to the victims' families within four months.