Nigeria crash: Indian-owned Dana Air asked to resume operations

Abuja: Nearly after 24 hours of suspension, Nigeria has directed Dana Air, an Indian-owned commercial passenger carrier to resume operations. The suspension came after the country’s parliament complained of the airline’s shoddy manner of paying compensations to victims of a crash that left over 150 people dead last year. [caption id=“attachment_666368” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The crash site. File photo from 2012. AP.[/caption] A statement by Joe Obi, the spokesman for the oil rich African country’s Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah disclosed that the Ministry of Aviation officials and that of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) met with officials over safety issues concerning the airline’s operations. “At the end of the meeting, the suspension of the operations of the airline which took effect last Saturday was lifted. The airline is to resume normal operations immediately. However, a particular aircraft which had a snag over the weekend is to remain grounded until after its air-worthiness has been recertified by Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft,” Obi said. Adding that one of the planes with passengers had an emergency landing on Saturday. Dana Air’s spokesman, Tony Usidamen said, “We are pleased to announce that the airline has been given approval to resume flight operations with immediate effect following the temporary suspension of our operations on Saturday, 16th March, 2013.” According to him, scheduled flights will now resume on Tuesday March, 2013 on the Lagos-Abuja-Lagos route. The airline’s McDonnell Douglas MD-83, flight 992, plunged down into a building on its way to commercial city of Lagos from the country’s capital of Abuja last June. One hundred and fifty three people on board were killed while 10 others were killed on the ground. The pilot was said to have reported engine problems and declared mayday some 20 kilometres to the airport before crashing into a building in a crowded neighbourhood to the airport. Subsequently, the airline was suspended but by September, it was allowed to fly again before the recent stoppage on Saturday. PTI