Court rejects all appeals, orders Airblue to pay Rs5.41b compensation to crash victims

Pronouncing a verdict on eight petitions filed for compensation for the losses suffered in the AirBlue plane crash in Islamabad in 2010, a court in Islamabad on Tuesday rejected all eight appeals filed by the airline, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The court also slapped Rs100,000 fine on the airline per appeal, while overall, the airline was fined Rs8 million.

The court also ordered the airline to pay Rs5.41 billion to those affected by the disaster.

In the decision penned down by Additional District and Sessions Judge Dr Rasool Bux Mirjat, AirBlue was ordered to pay Rs143.189 million in compensation to Sameera Naveed Chaudhry and others; Rs630.94 million to Rashid Zulfiqar and four others; Rs1101.868 million to Muhammad Ilyas; Rs507.348 million to Gohar Rehman, and Rs996.048 million to Junaiduz Zaman Hamid.

Similarly, the court ordered the airline to pay Rs857.025 million in compensation to Muhammad Javed Khan; Rs572.666 million to Salima Rajput, and Rs606 million to Colonel (r) Shamim Akhtar.

The affected people had filed an appeal in the court against the decision given by the civil judge.

The appeals filed by the affected people also remained pending in the Islamabad High Court.

Later, the high court sent the case back to a sessions court.

Reporter: Hashir Warraich