Monday, 3 June 2013
This very day last year Grandparents, parents, children, brothers, sisters and friends were lost and their bereaved have struggled in vain. Families and friends of the departed in the ill-fated Dana flight 992 that crashed into the densely populated Iju-Ishaga neighbourhood of Lagos State before it could reach the Muritala Muhammed airport, have continued to cry out.
Those who lost loved ones and valuable property to the Dana air crash of Sunday, June 3, 2012 have spent the last twelve months agonising and today they will remember again the sad memories of how their loved ones died in the ill-fated aircraft. But such memories will be more bitter this year as the compensation due to many of them have been denied them.
Yes, the workmen hired by the Lagos State Ministry of Works to erect a cenotaph in memory of the victims of the ill-fated Dana flight 992 busied themselves at the crash site last week, but that will still not substitute for the lives lost, neither will it take away the sad memories.
All the rubble on the crash site has since been cleared and the entire environment fenced to protect whatever the government plans to un put in memory of the horrid accident. A staff of the Lagos State Ministry of Works said that at the sit,e all 153 names of the crash victims would be engraved on the cenotaph upon completion. He said they were working under a tight deadline to complete the construction before today when dignitaries from both state and federal establishments are expected to unveil it.
A resident of the area, Mr. Sunday Dapo, who lives on Olaniyi Street spoke about the event of last year in a subdued voice as if it happened yesterday. Dapo said: “It was a thing that should make us scared and thank God. My house is down the street, although I was not at home that day, It was a terrible thing for someone to be killed in such circumstances that we all witnessed last year June.”
Dapo remembered the people who lost their lives at home due to the impact of the crash. He said: “I am not even talking about those inside the plane, but our neighbours here who perished right in their own homes. It is not just an incident to remember at all, because it is too hard for me to come to terms with. But who are we to question God?”
He talked about compensation for the victims too. He said: “It is incomprehensible that there would be delays in the compensation to the families who lost loved ones and their property. Nobody prays for disaster, but when it happens, you would expect the organisation that is responsible to be proactive in paying compensation without putting families of victims through another period of anguish, but that don’t usually happen here.
Its been twelve month now and the victims of the crash are yet to receive their promised compensation. How much longer would they have to wait before they are remembered and duly compensated? Would a protest round the streets of lagos make them heard?
As we ponder over this unfortunate situation let us remember to pray for the souls that left us a year ago.
May they rest in peace.
