Dana Air Crash, One Year After!

                                     

For one whole year, they have struggled in vain. Families and friends of the departed in the ill-fated Dana flight 992 that crashed into the densely populated Iju-Ishaga neighbourhood of Lagos State have continued to cry out.

Those who lost loved ones and valuable property to the Dana air crash of Sunday, June 3, 2012 have spent the last twelve months agonising and today they will remember again the sad memories of how their loved ones died in the ill-fated aircraft. But such memories will be more bitter this year as the compensation due to many of them have been denied them.

Yes, the workmen hired by the Lagos State Ministry of Works to erect a cenotaph in memory of the victims of the ill-fated Dana flight 992 busied themselves at the crash site last week, but that will still not substitute for the lives lost, neither will it take away the sad memories.

Someone living close to the crash site said the people who lost their lives at home due to the impact of the crash. He said: “I am not even talking about those inside the plane, but our neighbours here who perished

right in their own homes. It is not just an incident to remember at all, because it is too hard for me to come to terms with. But who are we to question God?”

He talked about compensation for the victims too. He said: “It is incomprehensible that there would be delays in the compensation to the families who lost loved ones and their property. Nobody prays for disaster, but when it happens, you would expect the organisation that is responsible to be proactive in paying compensation without putting families of victims through another period of anguish, but that does not usually happen here.

A victim, an interior decorator, Mr. Iloka Chima, lamented that the crash had reduced him to nothing. For weeks, he was in the hospital before he was discharged. “The crash reduced me to nothing. I lost everything,” he said. He lamented that despite all the promises made to the ground victims, he was only paid N200,000.00.

He said: “After the crash, I squatted from house to house with my family. It took the efforts of my brother to raise money to pay for another home which cost us about 500,000.00”.

Another victim, Uchechukwu Okoye was injured in the crash and also spent weeks in the hospital. He is yet to be compensated for his injuries.

What more can I say but to appeal to the Federal Government and organizations in charge to stop the fun fair and find a lasting solution to these incessant crashes. God help Nigeria!