The family of a Caerphilly man who died when a plane crashed into a mountain in Afghanistan say their fight for answers will continue after an inquest heard that crucial eye-witness evidence into the cause of the incident has yet to be released.
The domestic Pamir Airways Flight 112 was travelling from Kunduz to Kabul when it crashed into a mountain just 12 miles from its destination on May 17 2010 killing all 44 passengers on board.
Among the victims were father-of-three Chris Carter, 51, from Caerphilly, who was killed alongside fellow Brits David Taylor, 28, from Stoke on Trent and Daniel Saville, 40, from Bradford.
An inquest into their deaths was held at Bradford Crown Court on June 22.
Specialist aviation lawyers at Irwin Mitchell are representing their families as well as working with the representatives of 24 Afghan victims and one US family. The cases are currently being litigated in the US state of Illinois against Midwest ATC, the US company providing the air traffic control service at the time of the crash, and Honeywell, the manufacturer of the aircraft’s ground proximity warning system.
At the inquest, expert aviation lawyer Jim Morris, from Irwin Mitchell, asked the coroner to adjourn the hearing so that emerging evidence could be considered.
The evidence is an eye-witness account from the air traffic controller communicating with the aircraft at the time but its contents cannot yet been revealed.
After turning down the postponement and hearing other evidence, Coroner Neil Cameron concluded the deaths were accidental.
However, in his summing he said there had been a misunderstanding between air traffic control and the crew on-board the plane.
He said: “It does appear the aircraft made contact with the air traffic control base.
“There was an exchange of conversation between the air traffic controller and we assume the pilot or another member of the crew.
“It does appear that the descent was beginning too early but also that the air traffic controller could have become aware of that and could have alerted the aircraft to the fact it was descending too quickly and into danger.”
Jim Morris, a Partner in the Irwin Mitchell Aviation Law team and a former RAF pilot, said: “The families were devastated at losing their loved ones over 5 years ago and we have been fighting for answers and justice for them ever since.
“The primary evidence at the inquest was an accident report published by the Afghan Government, which received significant assistance from the US Civil Aviation Assistance Team for the accident investigation.
“Unfortunately, it is our view that the accident report does not sufficiently analyse the full chain of events and may reach a flawed conclusion as to the probable cause, namely that it was the failure of the captain to maintain adequate clearance from terrain.
“Following our extensive investigations into the accident, we believe that confused communications between the Captain of the aircraft and Air Traffic Control played a major part in causing this tragedy, leading to a descent being initiated too early which put the aircraft on a collision course with the mountain.
“The families are now hoping that the emerging evidence will help shed further light on the chain of events that caused the loss of their loved ones and we will continue to fight for justice on their behalf.”
Mr Carter was a former soldier with the Royal Regiment of Wales and had served in Iraq, Bosnia and Northern Ireland.
He was in Afghanistan working with International Relief and Development, an organisation combating the country’s drugs trade and helping to rebuild its crumbling infrastructure.
His body was not flown home until three months after the crash on May 17, 2010.