Oluwatoyin Samson
Oluwatoyin Samson, one of the hostesses and a survivor of the ill-fated Associated Airlines plane that crashed in Lagos State with the remains of former Minister of Aviation, Chief Olusegun Agagu, has told the media her ordeal in the hands of the management of the airline.
On 3rd October 2013, Akure bound Associated Aviation Flight 361, operated by an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, crashed on take off from Murtala Muhammed Airport.
Fifteen of the 20 people on board were killed..
The aircraft was on a charter flight taking the body of the former Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Agagu for burial.
Oluwatoyin, who joined the company in 2000, was one of the people at the second Engr. Zakariya Haruna memorial lecture held in Lagos to recount her experience.
Dressed in a red gown and limping, due to injury she sustained from the crash, the middle-aged woman said the carrier omitted her name when they started paying the 30 per cent insurance to the families of the deceased and injured.
Oluwatoyin stated that she called the airline spokesman, Alex Emode, who advised her to get a lawyer because she granted an interview to the Accident Investigation Bureau upon her return.
“I told AIB nothing but the truth about the crash”, she said, adding that “In fairness to the crew and passengers that died, I don’t need to hide anything from AIB.
“My personal effect, recovered from the wreckage, has not been given back to me and it has been returned to Associated Airline by AIB”.
She disclosed that her lawyer wrote a letter to the company on her plight, adding that the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, was copied.
“To my surprise, Mr. Alex Emode told my lawyer on phone that I’m not a staff of Associated Aviation. I now asked him to tell me what I was doing onboard if I was not a staff of the airline”, she said. “Is it a crime to survive an air crash? If I had died in the crash, would they have told my family that I am not their staff?”
Oluwatoyin said that Emode told a journalist that she went on shopping spree in South Africa.
“I was furious and asked him if he gave me any money for the shopping in South Africa. All the money that was given to me by my family members and good Nigerians while I was on my hospital bed, were given to Mr. Alex in South Africa when he said that we have to cater for the accommodation and feeding of any family member accompanying us to South Africa.
“So, where will I get money to go on shopping spree as he claimed? Different false accusations because they don’t want to compensate me.
“He said that according to Geneva law, an obsolete law, I’m not going to be compensated because I am alive and I did not suffer any loss or permanent injury, that I will only be compensated on compassionate ground, if possible”.
She recalled, amid tears, the counsel by her doctor to stop hectic activities, adding that she can no longer function as a cabin crew because of her low physical and mental strength.
“My mobility is slow. I cannot stand for a long time, which disqualifies me for yearly medical/ditching/ evacuation exercise before my crew licence can be renewed.
“The indelible scars, burns behind my right arm are scary to behold. The psychological trauma I’m suffering now is as a result of the crash. I now have fear of aircraft during take-off.
“All these were not happening to me before the crash. I was very active. I walked straight. I do not limp, neither were I afraid of flight.
“The incident happened over nine months ago and the company has not done anything to take care of me. They neglected and humiliated me”, she cried.
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