This Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of the Spanair flight accident in which 154 people died and 18 survived with injuries
The president of the Association of People Affected by Flight JK5022 (AVJK5022), Pilar Veraindicates that it is “a miracle & rdquor; that, despite the “powerful enemies & rdquor; to those who have faced in the 15th anniversary of the Spanair flight accident in which 154 people died and 18 survived with injuries, the entity that presides “continue standing & rdquor;.
In an interview with EFE for this anniversary, Vera -who lost a niece in the air tragedy- delves into the fact that these “powerful enemies & rdquor; to which she refers have “infinite resources & rdquor ;, in such a way that” the imbalance is so evident that what really is a miracle is that 15 years later the association is still standing & rdquor ;.
Among the enemies they have had to face are “the insurers and the ‘lobby’ that supports them; the manufacturer of the Boeing airplane, which is one of the manufacturers with infinite resources; the Spanish administration; airlines; either the collectivesfor example maintenance, for which the technicians are accused& rdquor ;.
Despite this, it vindicates the changes that the association has been able to promote without the support of the administrations in these three decades of activity: the prohibition contained in the 2016 Victim Statute that lawyers or attorneys can approach victims of this type of tragedies until 45 days have passed, or the airlines have a victim assistance plan.
However, Vera considers that there are still battles to fightand that is why the work of the association cannot yet be concluded.
“I never thought, because If I had thought about it, I would not have gotten involved, that this was going to last so long, or that it was not going to be relieved, and right now I find myself a prisoner of the situation, I cannot leave because if I leave, this will end. And I am one of those who cannot leave a book without reading & rdquor ;, she assures.
He gives as an example getting the official Commission for the Investigation of Civil Aviation Accidents and Incidents (Ciaiac) -in charge of drafting the opinion of responsibilities for the accident that blames the pilots- “disappear & rdquor; and that it be replaced by a “multimodal body & rdquor; of investigation and prevention of accidents in means of transport of all kinds, not only by air.
a difficult road
Pilar Vera does not hide the fact that the path the victims have traveled over these years has been difficult, especially since in all this time he feels that justice has “always turned its back on them & rdquor;, but also for the “brutal pedagogy work & rdquor; that he had to exercise with the families to explain to them that the pilots “were not the culprits, that they were some more victims of the chain of errors that were committed & rdquor ;.
As far as the investigation of the causes of the accident is concerned, The association is awaiting two judicial responses.
On the one hand, on whether or not to admit a criminal complaint filed against eight of the 18 responsible for whom the opinion of the commission of investigation of the tragedy in the Congress of Deputies put the magnifying glass on and that, in Vera’s opinion, made the official investigation of the Ciaiac – which only saw the pilots guilty – to be “completely discredited & rdquor ;.
On the other hand, the Supreme Court has yet to respond to the association’s request that the scale of traffic accidents not be applied in general when paying compensation to victims.
However, Vera admits that they do not have “much hope & rdquor; that these judicial resolutions are favorable to them: “We do not know to what extent an opinion of the Legislative Power would be very novel and very unique, would have enough weight and validity for the Judicial Power to undertake an investigation& rdquor ;.
new foundation
Vera also anticipates that in the coming weeks he hopes that an air safety foundation can be established, which would be a pioneer in Spain and in which he has been working for a long time.
“The objective that the foundation has, or one of the main objectives, is to collect everything that has been done in these 15 years at a national and international level so that it is not lost. And also that whoever loses a loved one in a tragedy of any kind has the certainty that the foundation will protect them and tell them what is going on, that of course they are not going to deceive them as they tried with us & rdquor ; he explains.
And it is that, as he points out, in Spain “they wanted to bury & rdquor; this tragedy and “silence” the victims in these 15 years “because the causes of the systemic failure that occurs in the tragedy of flight JK5022 are still latent & rdquor ;.