Murrelet
1st May 2002, 17:33
From the Straits Times
SQ 006 pilots summoned for Taipei hearing
TAIWAN'S prosecutors have summoned the three pilots of Singapore Airlines SQ006 to appear at a hearing in Taipei on May 8 over a crash that killed 83 people in October 2000.
The summons was issued on Monday, shortly after the final investigation report issued by Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) pinned the blame for the accident solely on the pilots and downplayed serious flaws in Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek airport.
News that the prosecutors want to see the pilots has been accompanied by speculation in Taipei that they may be detained right after their testimony in Taiwan next week.
But prosecutor Chiang Kuei-chang, head of the review department of the Taoyuan Prosecutors' Office, on Wednesday dismissed such talk.
He said that since the men have been listed as defendants, 'it is their right to come forward to tell us what exactly had happened; what the weather was like; and what other factors had led them to make that decision'.
'If the pilots refuse to come to Taiwan, they are simply giving up their own rights. In that case, we would only be able to conduct our investigation based on the ASC report and our interviews with relevant people here,' he told The Straits Times.
In Singapore, a spokesman for Singapore Airlines acknowledged that a letter had been received requesting that the pilots attend a meeting at Taipei.
'We have said previously that we would make the best effort for them to return. The assurarnce was based on an understanding from the pilots that they would return to Taipei when requested to do so.'
SQ 006 pilots summoned for Taipei hearing
TAIWAN'S prosecutors have summoned the three pilots of Singapore Airlines SQ006 to appear at a hearing in Taipei on May 8 over a crash that killed 83 people in October 2000.
The summons was issued on Monday, shortly after the final investigation report issued by Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) pinned the blame for the accident solely on the pilots and downplayed serious flaws in Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek airport.
News that the prosecutors want to see the pilots has been accompanied by speculation in Taipei that they may be detained right after their testimony in Taiwan next week.
But prosecutor Chiang Kuei-chang, head of the review department of the Taoyuan Prosecutors' Office, on Wednesday dismissed such talk.
He said that since the men have been listed as defendants, 'it is their right to come forward to tell us what exactly had happened; what the weather was like; and what other factors had led them to make that decision'.
'If the pilots refuse to come to Taiwan, they are simply giving up their own rights. In that case, we would only be able to conduct our investigation based on the ASC report and our interviews with relevant people here,' he told The Straits Times.
In Singapore, a spokesman for Singapore Airlines acknowledged that a letter had been received requesting that the pilots attend a meeting at Taipei.
'We have said previously that we would make the best effort for them to return. The assurarnce was based on an understanding from the pilots that they would return to Taipei when requested to do so.'