A WEEK-LONG hearing is being planned in Britain into the crash of a budget airline holiday flight on Phuket that killed 90 people. The hearing will take the form of an inquest on eight Britons who died on the flight three years ago.
Under British law, an inquest by a coroner is required to formally ascertain the cause or causes of death of British citizens.
A British online media outlet says that among the victims of the One-Two-Go MD-82 crash were Steve and Susan Saunby, who had been married in Bangkok just the previous day, and Harry and Helen Slater, who were witnesses at the wedding ceremony.
The fate of the newly-weds and their friends will be formally declared once Stuart Fisher, the coroner for West Lincolnshire, Spilsby and Louth, completes what is expected to be a week-long hearing.
The inquest will almost certainly reopen issues surrounding the cause of the crash.
Lawyers representing the two families are to meet Mr Fisher in a pre-inquest hearing on November 18 to determine the witnesses who will be called when the inquest goes ahead, thisisscunthorpe.co.uk reports.
A coroner most often makes a verdict of natural death, accidental death, misadventure, suicide, or murder. If the verdict is murder or culpable accident, criminal prosecution may follow, and suspects are able to defend themselves.
Thai authorities have only ever released a summary of the investigation into the causes of the crash, identifying flight crew error and systematic failures at the airline as contributing factors.
''Lawyers acting on behalf of the Scunthorpe families have already agreed to compensation settlements as part of a $400 million lawsuit in New York against the Thai airline owners,'' the online report says.
The early evening crash-landing of flight 269 on September 16, 2007, came in driving rain and strong winds, leaving 40 survivors to be rescued from the broken and burning fuselage.
One-Two-Go flights were suspended by Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation and resumed after changes and additional training in December 2008.
The budget airline's parent company, Orient Thai, superseded the One-Two Go brand just before the third anniversary of the Phuket crash this year.
Phuket Crash Survivor Back in the Air OftenUnder British law, an inquest by a coroner is required to formally ascertain the cause or causes of death of British citizens.
A British online media outlet says that among the victims of the One-Two-Go MD-82 crash were Steve and Susan Saunby, who had been married in Bangkok just the previous day, and Harry and Helen Slater, who were witnesses at the wedding ceremony.
The fate of the newly-weds and their friends will be formally declared once Stuart Fisher, the coroner for West Lincolnshire, Spilsby and Louth, completes what is expected to be a week-long hearing.
The inquest will almost certainly reopen issues surrounding the cause of the crash.
Lawyers representing the two families are to meet Mr Fisher in a pre-inquest hearing on November 18 to determine the witnesses who will be called when the inquest goes ahead, thisisscunthorpe.co.uk reports.
A coroner most often makes a verdict of natural death, accidental death, misadventure, suicide, or murder. If the verdict is murder or culpable accident, criminal prosecution may follow, and suspects are able to defend themselves.
Thai authorities have only ever released a summary of the investigation into the causes of the crash, identifying flight crew error and systematic failures at the airline as contributing factors.
''Lawyers acting on behalf of the Scunthorpe families have already agreed to compensation settlements as part of a $400 million lawsuit in New York against the Thai airline owners,'' the online report says.
The early evening crash-landing of flight 269 on September 16, 2007, came in driving rain and strong winds, leaving 40 survivors to be rescued from the broken and burning fuselage.
One-Two-Go flights were suspended by Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation and resumed after changes and additional training in December 2008.
The budget airline's parent company, Orient Thai, superseded the One-Two Go brand just before the third anniversary of the Phuket crash this year.
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"...identifying flight crew error and systematic failures at the airline as contributing factors."
I think you mean "systemic failures".
Posted by Mike Boyd on November 7, 2010 19:04
Editor Comment:
We do, yes. Thank you.