National Newspaper - March 19th.. The Saga Continues
CAA may face lawsuits over chopper accidents
By YEHIURA HRIHWAZI
THE Civil Aviation Authority faces massive lawsuits for allowing the Russian-built Mil 8 helicopters to operate in PNG – one of them crashed and killed seven people and the other spilled a tonne of sodium cyanide in Central province.
Following revelations by The National that the Mil 8 helicopters were operating in PNG since 1986 without PNG’s P2 registration, plaintiffs with cases against the operators of the helicopters said yesterday they would seek to have CAA join their court cases as defendants.
A Mil 8 had a “hard-landing” in Finschhafen on Sept 10, 1992. Onboard were 22 passengers and several fuel drums.
On impact, the fuel drums burst into flames, incinerating seven passengers and injuring many others.
Aviation industry experts told The National last night that CAA regulations prohibited the aircraft from carrying highly inflammable substances with passengers.
Had the aircraft been certified to fly under PNG standards, they would not have flown the passengers and cargo together, the sources said.
CAA regulations also required that all foreign-registered aircraft must be flown out of PNG after 12 months of operations and then be certified to PNG standards and registered as P2 aircraft in order to fly again in PNG.
However, the CAA appeared to have allowed the Russian-built helicopters – Mil 8 and KA 32 (Kamov) – to remain in the country to date resulting in the fatal accidents.
A relative of one of the passengers killed in the Finschhafen crash said he and others would be revisiting the case to make sure that CAA took some responsibility for its alleged failure in allowing the helicopter to operate unregistered.
Meanwhile, Goilala villagers told The National yesterday that they had instructed their lawyer to include CAA in their K565 million claim against Hevi Lift, Orica and Tolukuma gold mine over an accident in March 2000 in which a Mil 8 helicopter spilled 1,000kg of poisonous sodium cyanide chemical into their creeks about 20km south of the mine.
Hevi Lift was one of the two companies in PNG that operated the Mil 8 choppers; Orica supplied the cyanide; and Tolukuma gold mine was the end user of the lethal chemical.
The villagers and the environment were allegedly affected by the spillage and a Port Moresby law firm, Naru Lawyers, had fixed the total quantum of damages at K565 million.
A leading consultant in the case against the three companies, David Bal of Microbal Consultants, said their lawyer Allan Baniyamai, of Baniyamai Lawyers, had been instructed to apply to the National Court to have CAA join the case as defendants because of its alleged negligence in certifying the helicopters to operate in PNG.
Mr Bal said they had decided on including CAA as the fourth defendant and possibly the State of PNG as the fifth defendant after reading in the newspaper that the Russian helicopters appeared to be operating illegally in PNG.
Mr Baniyamai confirmed that he would look at the legal and technical issues and determine if CAA could be sued as well for negligence.
Another helicopter company, Pacific Helicopters, told The National last week that it was seriously considering suing CAA for loss of “millions of kina” because it sold off its Mil 8 helicopter back to the Russians due to alleged indecision by CAA on whether or not the aircraft could operate in PNG.
Eastern Highlands Governor and Pacific Helicopters owner Malcolm Kela-Smith said he was losing millions of kina because CAA could not get its act together and decide if it could operate in PNG.
He said after he sold of his aircraft at a lower cost, CAA allowed the Mil 8s to operate.