Islamabad court orders Airblue to pay Rs5.41bn compensation to 2010 plane crash victims' families

ISLAMABAD: The District and Session Courts Islamabad ordered private airline, Airblue to pay Rs5.41 billion compensation to the families of 2010 plane crash victims.

As per details, the court dismissed all eight appeals filed by private airline AirBlue in connection with the 2010 plane crash case and ordered to pay compensation to the victims’ families.

In a written verdict issued by Additional District and Session Judge Dr. Rasool Bakhsh Mirjat AirBlue was ordered to pay the compensation.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs8 million on AirBlue for filing the appeals and wasting judicial time.

The compensation amounts ordered include PKR 143.189 million for Samira Naveed Choudhry and two others, Rs630.94 million for Rashid Zulfiqar and four others, Rs1.101 billion for Muhammad Ilyas, Rs507.348 million for Gohar Rehman, Rs996.048 million for Junaid Al-Zaman Hamid, Rs857.025 million for Muhammad Javed Khan, Rs572.666 million for Salima Rajput, and Rs606 million for Colonel (R) Shameem Akhtar.

The victims had initially appealed against the civil judge’s decision, which had allowed partial compensation of up to PKR 10 million per individual. The High Court later referred the case back to the Sessions Judge’s jurisdiction.

Airblue Flight 202, a domestic passenger service from Karachi to Islamabad, crashed on July 28, 2010, while attempting to land at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

The aircraft struck the Margalla Hills during its final approach in adverse weather conditions. All 152 people on board, 146 passengers and six crew members — were killed, making it the deadliest aviation accident in Pakistan’s history.