NCAA Grounds Associated Airline As One More Survivor Dies

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has suspended the operations of Associated Aviation Limited, owners of Associated Airlines, following Thursday’s crash, which killed 13 out of the 20 people on board.

The EMB 120 2ER 5N-BJY aircraft with 30 passenger capacity, which was manufactured by Embraer S.A Brazil and registered in Nigeria on  May 22, 2007 crashed  shortly after take-off from the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

The aircraft was taking the corpse of former Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Agagu, for burial when the incident occurred.

The Director-General, NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu, announced the suspension of  all operations of the airline at the General Hospital Ikeja after paying a visit to injured passengers on Saturday.

He said, “Associated Airlines operations have been suspended by the NCAA. Let me say for the purpose of clarity, I said their operations, I mean all their operations of Associated Airline have been suspended by the NCAA. I did not say any certification was cancelled but all operations.”

According to him, the grounding of operations of the airline is to pave the way for ongoing probe into the cause of the crash, adding that NCAA will continue to apply its rules on all airlines.

He explained that even though the aircraft was certified airworthy before the ill-fated flight, it was important to note that the continuous airworthiness certification of an airplane was the responsibility of the  airline itself.

He, however, noted that the insurance company handling the airline had provided documents about the state of its insurance.

Meanwhile, there were reports on Saturday that one of the seven survivors had died.

The identity of the victim could not be ascertained as at press time.

The Head, Aeromedical Standards, NCAA, Dr. Theresa Bassey, had said on Friday that all the seven survivors were responding to treatment.