The accident which occurred less
than a minute after take-off, inside the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, on
October 3, 2013, killed many on board, but four people miraculously
survived.
Samson was one of the people at the
second Engr. Zakariya Haruna memorial lecture held in Lagos. Haruna was the pioneers
Director General of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) when the agency
was created in 1999. He died in 2003.
Samson, who joined the company in
2000, dressed in a red gown and walked with a limp, occasioned by the injury
she sustained from the crash, said the carrier omitted her name, and then
started paying the 30 per cent insurance to the families of the deceased.
She stated that she called the
spokesman to the airline, Mr. Alex Emode about her settlement, adding that he suggested
she should get a lawyer, noting that the complaint they had against her was
that she granted an interview to Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) after she
came back from South Africa.
She said: “I told AIB nothing but
the truth about the crash. In fairness to the crew and passengers that died, I
don’t need to hide anything from AIB. My personal effect, recovered from the
wreckage, has not been given back to me and it has been returned to Associated
Airline by AIB.”
Emode told NT that the airline would
hold a press briefing today to address the matter, to let the public know the
true position of the matter.
Samson disclosed that her lawyer
wrote a letter to the company and copied the NCAA, adding that no reply was
gotten from the airline with NCAA saying they were working assiduously with the
airline in ensuring that all the families of the victims, both deceased and
survivors were fully compensated without further delay.
Samson said: “To my surprise, Mr.
Alex Emode told my lawyer on phone that I’m not a staff of Associated Aviation.
I now asked him to tell me what I was doing onboard if I was not a staff of the
airline. Is it a crime to survive an air crash? If I had died in the crash,
would they have told my family that I am not their staff?”
She said that Mr. Emode told a
journalist that she went on shopping spree in South Africa.
“I was furious and asked him if he
gave me any money for the shopping in South Africa. All the money that was
given to me by my family members and good Nigerians while I was on my hospital
bed, were given to Mr. Alex in South Africa when he said that we have to cater
for the accommodation and feeding of any family member accompanying us to South
Africa.”
She stated that she has not been
collecting salary since 2012, “So, where will I get money to go on shopping spree
as he claimed. Different false accusations because they don’t want to
compensate me!
“He said that according to Geneva
law, an obsolete law, I’m not going to be compensated because I am alive and I
did not suffer any loss or permanent injury, that I will only be compensated on
compassionate ground, if possible.”
She disclosed amid tears that she
had been advised by her doctor to desist from any hectic job, adding that she
can no longer function as a cabin crew because she now lacks the physical and
mental requirement needed.
She said: “My mobility is slow. I
cannot stand for a long time, which disqualifies me for yearly
medical/ditching/ evacuation exercise before my crew license can be renewed.
The indelible scars, burns behind my right arm are scary to behold. The
psychological trauma, I’m suffering now is as a result of the crash. I now have
fear of aircraft during take-off.”
“All these were not happening to me
before the crash. I was very active. I walked straight. I do not limp, neither
was I afraid of flight. The incident happened over nine months ago and the
company has not done anything to take care of me. They neglected and humiliated
me.”
Touched by her predicament, chairman
of the occasion, Captain Brikemi Porbeni faulted the NCAA for not doing what it
was expected to do in aircraft and aviation regulations
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