The Council of State with two decisions gave the green light to provide compensation to relatives of Yakovlev 42 which crashed into the Pieria mountain on December 19, 1997 and "Express Samina" ferryboat which sank in Paros, Cyclades, in September 2000.
Some of the relatives of the victims had sought compensation for mental anguish caused by the death of their relatives from the Greek State. For some of the relatives, Justice ruled definitively and irrevocably, 17 years after the incident, that they are entitled to receive compensation.
More specifically, the Board of Appeal of Thessaloniki awarded a 90,873 euro compensation for pain and suffering to the parents and two siblings of one of the passengers of the fatal aircraft, a report from the sate news agency said.
The Council of State also awarded a compensation to a person who had lost her grandfather and grandmother in "Express Samina" shipwreck.
THE CASE OF THE YAKOVLEV 42 PLANE CRASH
In December 1997 a Ukrainian Yak-42 crashed into a mountain in Greece, while performing a missed approach out of Thessaloniki airport's Runway 16. The flight was being flown as VV241 (Aerosvit airlines), but was operated by a Lviv Airlines (although the aircraft had "Tiger Air" painted on it) aircraft. The Yak-42 was chartered after the Aerosvit 737-200, that was originally slated to perform the flight, reportedly broke down in Odessa, Ukraine. (source - Airliners)
The airplane did not follow the published missed ILS approach procedure and headed West-Southwest, flying into the side of Mount Pente Pigadia at 3300 feet.
The wreckage was found at 10:30, December 20. A Greek Air Force Lockheed Hercules, which was being used in the search, crashed near Athens, killing all 5 on board.
On October 6, 2000 a trial began with two air traffic controller being accused of many counts of manslaughter and of violating the transportation regulations. They were sentenced to five years imprisonment. In December 2002 a Thessaloniki appeals court reduced the sentences of two air traffic controllers to four years and four months each.
Probable Cause: "The aircraft deviated because the crew did not: adequately plan and execute the missed approach; utilize the Macedonia Airport radio-navigational aids; declare an emergency when they lost orientation; maintain cockpit discipline." Source - AVIATION
The Controversy Surrounding The Crash
All that seems clear from the usual Internet sources is that: the crew of the Yak-42 (UR-42334) did not follow the proper missed approach procedure, they climbed to the right altitude but instead of turning around about 180 degrees and heading to a hold north of the field, they turned WSW and flew in that direction for 35-40 miles (i.e. for at least 10 minutes) in bad visibility until they hit a mountain.
There has been much legal action, and some murky business that came to light in the aftermath of the crash. Aerosvit clearly had an unfairly strong influence on the aviation and legal authorities in their home country.
Also, two air traffic controllers were put on trial in Greece around 2000 in connection with the accident. (source - Airliners)
THE CASE OF EXPRESS SAMINA FERRY TRAGEDY
On the evening on Tuesday 26 September 2000, MS Express Samina left the port of Piraeus with 473 passengers and 61 crew members. At 22:12, 2 nmi off the port of Parikia, Paros, the ship hit the reef of Portes islets at 18 knots. The wind at the time was 8 on the Beaufort scale. The ship sunk near there at 23:02, resulting in the deaths of 82 people from a total of 533 on board.
The first responders to the distress call were fishing boats from the nearby port, followed by the port authorities and British ships, in the area due to a NATO exercise. The fact that some of the crew did not help the passengers evacuate the sinking ferry contributed to the death toll.
Probable Cause: The crew placed the ship on autopilot and did not have a crew member watch the ship. Even with autopilot on, standard practice calls for one crew member to watch the controls, for example to avoid collisions with other vessels. The crew deployed the fin stabilizers system to decrease the motions in bad weather; normally both stabilizer fins deployed, but in this case the port stabilizer fin did not deploy. This caused the ship to drift and therefore not travel in a straight line. A crew member discovered the problem and, at the last minute, tried to steer the ship to port. This action occurred too late. At 10:12 P.M. the ship struck the east face of the taller Portes pinnacle. The rocks tore a six-meter long and one-meter wide hole above the water line. After that impact, the rocks bent the stabilizer fin backwards, and the fin cut through the hull through the side, below the waterline, and next to the engine room. The water from the three-meter gash destroyed the main generators and ended electrical power. Professor David Molyneaux, a ship safety expert, said that the damage sustained by the MS Express Samina should not normally sink such a ship. The ship sank because nine of the ship's eleven watertight compartment doors were open when safety laws require ship operators to close and lock the safety doors. The water spread beyond the engine room, and due to a lack of power the operators could not remotely shut the doors. Molyneaux described the open watertight doors as the most significant aspect of the sinking. Source - Wikipedia
Why The Case Of Samina Became Political
When the Express Samina tragedy occurred the spotlight quickly turned to Greece's ageing ferry fleet, which transports millions of people a year.
At the time, Costas Karamanlis who was heading the main opposition New Democracy party accused the PASOK socialist government of Costas Simitis of being too close to Greece's shipping companies and at the same time questioned how it had awarded operating licences to these companies knowing very well that their fleets were too old. Karamanlis had even alleged that profit had been allowed to stand in front of safety, (and with PASOK in power at the time, he was spot on).
This sparked a wide controversy and in an attempt to shore up the credibility of the passenger fleet, Simitis' government suspended the operating licences of more than 60 Greek ferry companies that were pending safety upgrades.(Most of course returned to service soon after this). The carelessness of the Simitis government, and especially of PASOK, in handling this situation and in placing profit above safety should certainly be slammed.
Thankfully Simitis and his clan are not in power any longer, and Greek ferry companies have since then massively upgraded their fleets.
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