Mangalore: May 22, 2010 witnessed one of the bloodiest air accident in the history of Indian Aviation. India’s budget airline AIR INDIA EXPRESS IX 812, bound to Kozhikode in Kerala from Dubai overshot the runway at Mangalore International airport killing 168 people on board of which 58 were from Kerala, said Kerala MP Karunakaran.

He was speaking at the protest stage by the families of Air Crash Victims in association with DYFI in front of Air India Office at Lalbaugh on September 8, Wednesday. Addressing the protestors, he also said that the irony is that most of the people traveled by the ill-fated plane belong to middle/low income group and majority of them were the only bread winners for their families living in India.

Though the Union Civil Aviation Minister Mr Praful Patel and Air India management had announced an
interim compensation of Rs 10 lakhs each to the family of the deceased. Further the Union minister declared that the family of deceased would get a final compensation up to Rs 76 lakhs each. But now the officials have decided to give the compensation based on the income of the deceased, which means the insurance companies have to pay only a little amount as compensation as most of the families are from low income group which is injustice, he added.
The AIR INDIA and the insurance consortium lead by Reliance is trying to cheat the families with their new rule, hence the central government must interfere in the matter and provide justice to victims families.

The families say to go to the court, but it is not easy since there are many poor families who cannot afford to fight in International Courts, he alleged.
B Madhava of CPI (M) said that the act of AIR INDIA and the insurance consortium are illegal and against the law. International Air carriage and accidents are governed by Montreal Convention to which India is a party. India has incorporated Montreal Convention by way of an amendment to The Carriage by Air Act 1972, in May 2009.
The Montreal Convention, at Article 21, eliminates all arbitrary limits on air carrier liability with respect to accident victims. The carrier may avoid liability for the full amount of damages only if it proves that it was not negligent or that a third party was solely responsible for the damages.
The Air India did not give the ticket to the victims based on the income and all had paid the same amount, then why the Air India made the new rule he questioned.
This being the situation, the lawyers representing the insurance consortium are unduly influencing the representatives of the victims that the compensation would be assessed only on the basis of the income of the deceased.
Hence DYFI demands for the intervention of Union Civil Aviation Ministry in this issue and should contain AIR INDIA management and the Insurance representatives in unduly influencing the innocent victims who are already in a state of mental depression for the loss of their beloved ones. Union Civil Aviation ministry should also ensure that the dependants of the victims are adequately compensated as per the earlier statement made by the Civil Aviation Minister, he said.