MT. PLEASANT, S.C., and TORONTO, ON., (October 14, 2005) - North American aviation litigation firms, Motley Rice LLC and Will Barristers: Morin & Miller, today announced that they have filed suit against UK-based MK Airlines on behalf of families of victims of the crash of MK Airlines Flight 1602, which took place on October 14, 2004 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The Ghanaian-registered Boeing 747, which was taking off for Spain with a cargo of seafood, crashed and burned on take-off from Halifax airport in eastern Canada, killing all seven crew on board. Preliminary reports indicate that airport workers saw the jets tail hit the 22-foot high hill and concrete berm off the end of Runway 24 at Halifax Airport before it snapped off, sending the aircraft into a gravel pit near the end of the runway. The aircraft was subsequently engulfed in flames. Canadian Transportation Safety Board members indicated that within weeks of the accident two engines on the aircraft had been replaced. The cause of the accident is still under investigation. This tragedy is the fourth crash for MK in its twelve years of operation. The three previous crashes all took place in Nigeria.
"As we near the one-year anniversary of this terrible disaster, we want to reassure the families of the victims that we are working on their behalf to ensure that those responsible are held accountable," stated Motley Rice attorney and former U.S. Inspector General for the Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C., Mary Schiavo. "By bringing these cases to court, we hope to raise awareness of safety changes that need to take place in the aviation industry in the U.S., Canada and worldwide."
Paul Miller, attorney at Will Barristers: Morin & Miller added, "In the past year, Canada has seen two widebody transport jet crashes, this Boeing 747 flight and the Air France Airbus 340 crash that took place in August. As a firm, we are honored to have been asked to investigate and litigate these cases. In our investigation we not only are we learning what went wrong, but we are also discovering some serious compromises at Canadian airports which we hope will be corrected."
