Dana Air Crash anniversary: A look back at the iconic flight 992

The Dana Air crash was one this Monday. The crash, on June 5, 2012, left 157 people dead and others injured. "By Friday, last week, over twenty three of the families of the victims have been paid the full US$100,000 as full compensation including ground victims, about three of them have been settled.

Dana Air crash anniversary

"The process was slow down due to incomplete documentation and multiple claims presented by most of the families of the victims." the Managing Director of Dana Airlines, Mr. Jackie Hathiramani said on Monday during an anniversary

On his message to the families of the victims of the crash, Dana Air MD, said, "Our hearts goes out to all of them and they will forever be in our hearts."

Some of the deceased families who spoke with The Guardian under the condition of anonymity, said the delay in the release of the final accident report on Dana, a year after, showed the negligence on the part of government, which means that their loved ones had died in vain. Though the spokesman of Dana Air, Tony Usidamen, disclosed that some families have been fully compensated as at May 25, 2013, many of them still claimed they are yet to be given anything.

The Lagos state governor; Babatunde Fashola in the company of his cabinet members unveiled the monument where the names of 156 victims of the air crash were engraved.

“As a Government we have learnt some painful lessons and we have grown from them. We have now improved our response capacity, trained and continue to re-train our first responders, develop response protocols and acquired necessary equipment. We convened a Disaster and Emergency Management Summit for all the States in the South West, at which we shared our experience and information”.

“The entire incident is properly documented for posterity, with copies in the Attorney General’s Office and the Governor’s Office, with details of what we did well and what we could have done better to avoid our past mistakes”, he added.

“To all the family members who lost loved ones, we promised a year ago that we would fittingly honour all of them and today we move one small step closer towards immortalizing their memories”.

“This Cenotaph which we are unveiling here today will ensure that their memories never die. This monument will stand as a permanent memorial to these family men, women and children, and we will cherish each of their stories-stories of potential and of fulfillment, stories of true heroes”, Governor Fashola emphasized.