The families of the 10 passengers who perished in a plane crash at the Pieri Airstrip in Uror County of Jonglei State in March on Wednesday welcomed a ruling by the High Court in Juba to continue hearing their case against the ill-fated plane’s owner, Ayi Duang Ayi.
On March 2, a small aircraft (HK 4274) belonging to a local company, South Supreme Airline, crashed shortly after takeoff from an airstrip in Pieri town, killing all the 10 people on board.
James Lado Jada, the High Court judge presiding over the case on Wednesday ruled that the court decided to continue with legal proceedings and hear the case and that the parties can appeal.
“As the court, we decided to halt this legal argument and to continue the legal proceedings” Judge Lado ruled. “The court shall call for a sitting to formulate the dispute and hear the prosecution case. You as the parties have the right to appeal the court’s decision.”
The representatives of the victims’ families told Radio Tamazuj that they applauded the court for rejecting the demand by the defendants that the case is postponed until the investigations into the crash are completed and made public.
“Sending the black box to Peru has nothing to do with us as the families. We demand that we be compensated 170, 000 USD for each of the victims as is required internationally for any plane crash victim,” Makuei Puok, a relative to two of the crash victims said.
Another complainant, John Kel, who lost his wife in the crash said the airline was not genuine about the plane crash investigation.
“We have waited since March without compensation,” Kel said. “The airline company’s demand for the black box investigation is not genuine. So we are happy with the court decision.”
The court scheduled the first hearing of the case for 13 December.