Bureau explains delay in submission of report on Associated Airline’s plane crash

THE Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has said that the inability of pathologists and coroners to submit their final reports on the October 4, 2013 Associated Airline’s plane crash in Lagos is the major reason why it has not yet made public final report on the accident.

The Commissioner of AIB, Dr. Felix Abali, who stated this in an interview with The Guardian at the agency’s headquarters at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, said that if the challenges associated with pathologists and coroners handling the Associated plane crash, which claimed no fewer than 16 out of the 20 persons onboard had been resolved, AIB would have long ago released its final report on the crash.

He said that it would be unprofessional for the agency to release the final report without looking critically at the inputs of pathologists and coroners, but gave assurance that such challenges would be resolved very soon.

The AIB commissioner stated that in a bid to resolve such challenges in the future, the Bureau is currently working with major pathologists in the country who he said had lots of connections with some of the hospitals in different states across the nation.

His words: “That takes us back to the problems we are having with coroners and pathologists. We are actually still waiting for their reports. Accident as you know could be caused by a lot of factors. Assuming that one of the crew members was drunk, how do you determine this? It is through pathological reports that you can know the true state of health of such crew member.

“If we don’t have such information then, the report is incomplete. We cannot go and publish something and leave out some aspects. What we have been doing is that we try to come to an understanding with them. We have been trying to write a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them.

“As a matter of fact, we just started working with one of the pathologists who basically has a lot of connections with some of the hospitals in different states. These hospitals will work with this individual who will just report to us. If that works, I think the situation would be alleviated.”

Abali, who gave assurance that the sector was safe for flying despite some accidents in recent time, said that accident could not be eradicated in the industry; rather, it could be reduced to the barest minimum.

“Aviation industry is safe globally and will always be safe. Till now except the one that happened over Ukraine that the people know the cause of it, the other two or three, we don’t know the causes yet and I think in accident investigation, it is not always right to speculate. It doesn’t do the industry any good and it will not enhance safety in the system.

“Until the black boxes are discovered and the true causes of the accidents known, we won’t be able to comment much on them. But, I want to emphasise here that aviation is still the safest mode of transportation anywhere in the world”, he said.