News: Details Of Dana Craft 992 Plane Crash To Be Released On Monday

On Monday the 26th of May, 2014, Magistrate O.A. Komolafe, a coroner, conducting an inquest into the cause of death of over 150 passengers, and cabin crew aboard Dana Craft 992, which crashed in Lagos in June of 2012, will finally give the verdict on his findings from the inquest.
The inquest, which began 18th of June 2012, is based on an order by the Chief Coroner of Lagos State, Justice Okunnu. The lengthy inquest would be two years next month, almost to the date.
The Chief Coroner had ordered the inquest following a petition, and a request for it, at the Chambers of Human Rights, and a Constitutional lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), some days after the crash.
A statement by the Chief Coroner constituting the inquest partly reads:
“Conduct an inquest as desired, and thereafter, send to me a copy of your findings and recommendations in that regard.”
The inquest, however, had suffered a series of delays from adjournments to witnesses and counsels who were absent, and, curiously, a legal and unexpected ambush by Dana Airline officials, and its affiliates.
In September of last year, a group known as the Aviation Round Table filed a suit, challenging the right of the coroner to conduct the inquest. It was a move that halted the inquest for several days. In a bid that suggested a mutually established plan to frustrate the inquest, the troubled Dana Airline Company had joined the suit by the aviation group, calling for termination of the inquest.
But their legal ambush failed, as court officials refused their request to abort the on-going inquiry into what caused the airliner to fall out of the sky.
Dana Airline's operating license, which had earlier been seized, was also restored under what have called, ‘mysterious circumstances.’
At earlier stages of the inquest, the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) presented a brief preliminary report, stating that the aircraft lost both of its engines completely, while approaching its destination at the Murtala Muhammad Airport in Lagos.
The journey by air of the nearly 160 passengers was almost complete; Yet, the report reveals that the pilot had begun deploying flaps in preparation for landing at the Lagos Airport.
AIB thereafter said it collected parts of the plane on ground from the site of its tragedy, and would attempt to reconstruct it, in order to further help its investigation and determine the cause of the crash. The Bureau also said later, that the black box from the aircraft had been recovered from the site, and it was taken to a manufacturer's base abroad, for a careful study of key information contained within.
Although the inquest started out at the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja, a lawyer following the case, told our correspondent today it was later moved to the magistrate's court in Ebute Meta, where he said the verdict on just what happened to the aircraft moments before it crashed, is expected to be made this coming Monday.

Culled from Sahara Reporters.