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Published on September 29, 2007

The flight was served by an MD-82 aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas Corpora-tion 24 years ago. Boeing took over McDonnell Douglas in 1997.

Lawyers Manuel von Ribbeck and Mike Eidson from the law firms announced at a press conference yesterday that they had started the legal process on behalf of the relatives of the victims.

Attorney at law Ribbeck said the lawsuit had been brought against Boeing on behalf of the majority of the families of One-Two-Go passengers.

Other lawsuits will be brought against other alleged agents in the crash. including the airline, through the law firms' local counsel in Bangkok and Phuket.

"We will be looking into the aircraft for any design or manufacturing defects, such as the design of the passenger seats, which collapsed onto passengers when the plane crashed, preventing many people from getting out of the plane," said Ribbeck, adding that the MD-82 model had crashed 13 times.

The September 16 plane crash killed 90 passengers and injured many. Bethan Jones, 22, was the latest passenger who lost her life in the tragedy. She died yesterday in Bangkok, where she was unsuccessfully treated for severe burns. Sixteen passengers are hospitalised, 11 in Phuket and five in Bangkok. The Public Health Ministry's spokesman said yesterday that all were recovering.

Ribbeck said each of the lawsuits would be filed individually in accordance with the losses and damages each family had suffered. He added that compensation would cover both physical and psychological injuries and how much more medical intention they would need.

Ribbeck and Eidson filed the first lawsuit in the USA on behalf of one of the victims who survived the disaster in Phuket.

Parinyawit Choosaeng, who survived the crash with first-degree burns, said: "It is important to learn the cause of these terrible plane crashes. Through our lawsuit we seek to find the real cause of this crash, and our goal is to prevent similar accidents from happening in future.

"It is important that we protect the rights of the people affected by the crash immediately, before the engineering, design, manufacturing and maintenance records disappear. We have asked Mike Eidson and Manuel von Ribbeck to request that all records involving the control systems of the aircraft be protected and made available to the families' legal representatives immediately," Parinyawit said.

Ribbeck said the lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, demanded that the court order the defendant to immediately release to the families all relevant evidence concerning design and manufacturing records of the aircraft as well as any records concerning its maintenance.

The filing in the USA is intended to secure through the courts evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster.

Ribbeck said: "Through the initial discovery process in the courts we will obtain for the families all the facts and information necessary to prove the fault and will seek to preserve the evidence in this case, including protecting the wreckage from destructive testing. We will leave no stone unturned, and successful discovery will lead to earlier and higher recovery amounts for our cases."

Max Vermij, chief executive officer of the Ottawa-based Accident Cause Analysis, said that from his experience there were three major causes of plane accidents, man, machine and the environment.

"The accident could be caused by many factors, such as bad weather, the aircraft itself, or from the pilot or airline operator of the aircraft. However, they are connected," Vermij said.

Right now the only thing known is that bad weather was one of the major causes of the accident. However, the age of the aircraft suggests mechanical problems, and the pilot himself may have made a mistake, he said.

"We cannot draw any firm conclusion at the moment since we do not yet have enough factual information," Vermij added.

 Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

 The Nation