The company Yemenia Airways was heavily condemned this Wednesday September 14 by the criminal court of Paris, for the crash of an A310 off the Comoros, in 2009. An accident which had made 152 dead, including French.
The airline was found guilty of “manslaughter and manslaughter” as well as “recklessness “. She should therefore pay a fine of 255,000 euros, the maximum provided by law. Yemenia Airways will also have to pay more than one million euros in legal fees and damages to two victims’ associations. The company’s lawyer immediately announced that he will appeal.
The company was judged following the crash of an A310, off the Comoros, which killed 152 people, including 65 French people, in 2009. The investigations, carried out in particular on the black boxes of the device found at the bottom of the ocean august 2009, had concluded that the accident was due to a series of pilot errors.
For the families of the victims, this sentence is a relief 13 years after the fact. “ Our customers will be able to turn the page and grieve since a court decision has been rendered, believes Me Saïd Larifou, lawyer for several civil parties. She is satisfactory. She somehow mends the pain of families. »
But Yemenia decided to appeal, as explained by the company’s lawyer. ” We disagree with this analysis and we will argue it before the Court of Appeal said Mr. Forster. ” We insist on the fact that Yemenia persists in declaring itself innocent of the facts of which it is accused and that the responsibilities do not belong to it. There have been malfunctions foreign to Yemenia “, he adds.
“A failing culture of safety and responsibility”
More specifically, the Paris Criminal Court found two imprudences against the company Yemenia Airways. First of all, it should not have maintained night flights to Moroni at this time of year, especially because some lights at the airport were no longer working. Besides, she shouldn’t have assigned a co-pilot who wasn’t trained enough for this flight.
” The recklessness committed demonstrates a failing culture of safety and responsibility on the part of the company “, underlined the president of the court while reading the decision. Yemenia should not have been satisfied ” to hope that by chance there would be no accident “.
The company was only represented by its lawyer, no leader had made the trip as throughout the trial.
Bahia Bakari, only survivor of this accidentsaid she was happy with this decision, even if it does not relieve her of any weight.
The court decision will not change my story. It’s a relief, because I never said openly that I considered the company guilty, I was waiting for justice to decide. Excuses ? Over time, I no longer expected them, because I knew we weren’t going to receive them.
Bahia Bakari, sole survivor of the plane crash