PIA Passenger Dies in Ambulift Crash at Najaf Airport

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Abbas Ali
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PIA Passenger Dies in Ambulift Crash at Najaf Airport

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According to news sources, a PIA passenger has died in ambulift crash at Najaf Airport. Another passenger who was injured in the accident has been shifted to a hospital.

The ambulift was overloaded, according to reports.

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Re: PIA Passenger Dies in Ambulift Crash at Najaf Airport

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PIA operates scheduled passenger flights between Karachi and Najaf.

The airline's most recent flights PK-219 & PK-220 between Karachi and Najaf were operated with Airbus A320 registration AP-BLB on June 12.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/ap-blb

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Re: PIA Passenger Dies in Ambulift Crash at Najaf Airport

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PIA Announcement

Karachi 13 June 2018 -
A Lady passenger aged 93-94 years old travelling from Najaf on PK-220 fell from ambulifter at Najaf Airport. According to Najaf Airport Authority, the ground handling agency at Najaf, many of her relatives also got onto the ambulifter at the same time thus making the operation difficult. She got injured and was taken to hospital where she expired later and was buried in Holy Najaf on the will of her relatives accompanying her.

PIA staff is fully in contact with the relatives of deceased Mrs. Nisar Fatima and offered them every possible help including all expenses to be borne by PIA, return of immediate family to Pakistan on the next available flight and offering them free tickets for their next trip to Najaf whenever they intend to.

Meanwhile President & CEO Musharraf Rasool Cyan while condoling the death of Nisar Fatima and sympathizing with her relatives has ordered an investigation about the incident and asked airport manager to issue notice to the Iraqi ground handling service for their negligence.

The ground handling at Najaf is being handled by the Najaf Airport Authority. PIA has issued notice to the Najaf Airport Authority and asked for detailed report of the sad incident immediately.

Source: PIA Press Release (June 13, 2018)
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Re: PIA Passenger Dies in Ambulift Crash at Najaf Airport

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Family sues PIA for ambulift crash killing grandmother

KARACHI:
A city court on Thursday issued notices to Pakistan International Airlines, its chief executive officer and the Civil Aviation Authority over recover of Rs14 million in a damages suit filed by a Karachi family whose grandmother died in an accident at an Iraqi airport due to alleged negligence of the defendants.


The 4th senior civil judge of Malir district, Muhammad Ishaq, directed the national carrier authorities to appear in the court on August 10 to respond to queries about the suit. He warned in case of their absence, the case will be decided ex parte.

The suit was moved by Aseem Sardar, pleading that they had gone for pilgrammage to Iraq where his 94-year-old grandmother, Mrs Nisar Fatima, died at the Najaf airport due to the “negligence, malfeasance and inappropriate arrangements” by the PIA in June 2018, causing them trauma and agony.

The family claimed that they traveled to Najaf by flight no. PK 219 from Karachi via Dubai on June 2, 2018. Keeping in view the grandmother’s age, they said they had requested wheelchair service, which the PIA denied. Resultantly, the grandmother along with six other people were placed on the ambulift by the PIA personnel, which crashed to the ground from height.

The grandmother, Mrs Fatima was seriously injured and died at a Najaf Hospital during treatment the same day. On the other hand, the Iraqi authorities “falsely” charged the son of Mrs Fatima, Sardar Ali, with her murder as the PIA told the court Fatima's son Sardar Ali had taken charge of the wheelchair which fell from the ambulift while exonerating the PIA staffers. Besides, the PIA, according to the suit told the press that all of the family had mounted the ambulift which led to the crash but despite that were offering them every possible help including all expenses.

Barrister Musavir Gajani termed this a depiction of the breach of duty of care towards its customers by the PIA officers. The barrister said the defendants issued legal notices but the PIA did not reply. They said they also requested the CAA to investigate the incident but in vain. The plaintiffs said they had to deal with all expenses for medical bills, return flights all in addition to the mental stress of criminal proceedings and all the more having to part with an aged and loved member of the family. Against this background they have sought damages to the tune of Rs14,000,000 as compensation.Talking to The News, PIA spokesperson Mashhood Tajwar said the case is sub judice and the airline will respond at an appropriate forum.

Source: The News
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Re: PIA Passenger Dies in Ambulift Crash at Najaf Airport

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Court reissues notices to PIA, CAA in damages lawsuit

KARACHI:
A city court has reissued notices to Pakistan International Airlines and Civil Aviation Authority over a Rs14 million recovery and damages suit filed by a Karachi family whose one member died in an accident at an Iraqi airport due to alleged negligence of the defendants.

The 4th senior civil judge of Malir district, Muhammad Ishaq, reissued the notices to the PIA and the CAA for March 28 after the previous ones couldn't reach them due to some technical reasons. The court directed the ballif to paste the notices outside of the offices of these institutions.

The suit was moved by Aseem Sardar hat they had gone to Iraq on a religious family trip and his 94-year-old grandmother, Mrs Nisar Fatima, died at Najaf airport because of the “negligence, malfeasance and inappropriate arrangements” by the PIA in June 2018, causing them mental trauma and agony.

The family claimed that they had purchased tickets for flight no. PK 219 and departed from Karachi to Najaf via Dubai on June 2, 2018 and were scheduled to return on June 12, 2018 through fight no. PK 220. They said that keeping in view the grandmother’s age, they had requested wheelchair service as offered by the PIA but did not get it on their departure.

The service was given on the day of their return as PIA personnel lead the grandmother to an ambulift to lift her to a gate of the aircraft, according to the suit, there were six people on the lift: two from the family and four others, including two wheelchair-bound, the lift malfunctioned on ascension and crashed down from a significant height. Mrs Fatima was seriously injured in the crash and was taken to Al Najaf Al Asharf Hospital where she died on the same day, it added.

The Iraqi authorities “falsely” charged the son of Mrs Fatima, Sardar Ali, with her murder as the defendants offered no help or clarification on what had happened and instead stayed wholly silent, read the suit, instead the PIA told the Iraqi court that Ali had taken charge of the wheelchair which fell from the ambulift and none of their staffers was responsible for this. Ali was later exonerated.

The suit added that the PIA rather provided “false and contradictory” statements to the press in Pakistan that all of the family had gotten onto the ambulift which caused the incident and that the airline was in contact with the family offering them every possible help including covering all their expenses. It said that the statement also mentioned a former PIA CEO seeking a report on the incident from the Najaf Airport Authority, which was never released.

The plaintiffs said that they had had to deal with all expenses for medical bills, return flights all in addition to the mental stress of criminal proceedings as well as having to part with an aged and loved member of the family. They have sought damages to the tune of Rs14,000,000 as compensation for the problems allegedly caused by the PIA and other defendants.

Source: The News
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