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Relatives of victims of the 2014 Air Alg\u00e9rie crash have welcomed a Paris court ruling finding Spanish airline Swiftair guilty of involuntary manslaughter.<\/b><\/p>\n
Sandrine Tricot, who lost her husband Frederic Tricot in the crash, told the BBC it was a relief to finally have a verdict after “4,449 days of waiting for the victims’ families”.<\/p>\n
The French court on Monday fined the airline \u20ac225,000 ($256,000; \u00a3193,000), the maximum penalty, over the crash that killed all 116 people on board flight AH5017 from the Burkina Faso capital, Ouagadougou, to Algeria’s main airport in Algiers.<\/p>\n
Swiftair’s defence rejected the French investigation, describing the case as “a botched job”.<\/p>\n
Spanish prosecutors had previously closed their own investigation without bringing any charges. <\/p>\n
The airline has 10 days to appeal.<\/p>\n
The court said “negligence” in Swiftair’s training had “certainly contributed to the accident”.<\/p>\n
The McDonnell Douglas MD-83, owned by Swiftair and leased to Air Alg\u00e9rie with its crew, crashed in northern Mali on 24 July 2014.<\/p>\n
Those killed included 54 French citizens, 23 Burkinab\u00e8 nationals, as well as Lebanese and Algerian passengers and six Spanish crew members.<\/p>\n
The crash happened as the aircraft flew through a storm in the semi-arid Sahel region, south of the Sahara Desert. <\/p>\n
Investigators found that the anti-icing system had not been activated, causing ice crystals to form on pressure sensors. This led to an automatic reduction in engine power and the subsequent crash.<\/p>\n
The trial opened in Paris in March, more than 12 years after the disaster.<\/p>\n
Nathalie Police, who lost her 65-year-old father Didier and her 18-year-old half-brother Nicolas, attended the entire four-week trial.<\/p>\n
Outside the court on Monday, she stood alongside Tricot. Both welcomed the ruling.<\/p>\n
“The amount of money was never the end goal. We are relieved that justice has finally been delivered,” Tricot told the BBC.<\/p>\n
“No amount of money could bring back our loved ones.”<\/p>\n
Tricot heads the French national federation for victims of terrorist attacks and collective accidents, which joined the case as a civil party.<\/p>\n
She said it had been difficult to coordinate with families in Algeria and Burkina Faso who also lost relatives, but hoped the ruling would bring them some peace.<\/p>\n
“The conviction is an important step towards recognising criminal responsibility for the disaster.”<\/p>\n
S\u00e9bastien Busy, a lawyer representing most of the victims, described the conviction as a relief. He said Swiftair would also have to cover legal costs, which could exceed the \u20ac225,000 fine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n