Hania Taan
Special to The Daily Star

The parliamentary Public Works, Transport, Energy and Water committee saluted the performance of the state’s institutions in dealing with the catastrophic plane crash in Benin last Thursday.
The committee, which is chaired by Beirut MP Mohammed Qabbani, met on Tuesday in the presence of Public Works and Transport Minister Najib Mikati and the director-general of civil aviation, Hamdi Shawq, to discuss the accident and the on-going investigation. The committee promised to closely monitor the matter until the truth was revealed.
The committee said that victims and their families should be compensated by any party found responsible for the plane crash, adding that it supported Mikati’s proposal to establish a special committee to assist the victims’ families.
The committee said that it would issue a recommendation to the government to ensure Middle East Airlines’ (MEA) access to countries of emigration, which would contribute to ensuring the safety and interests of Lebanon’s citizens abroad.
After the meeting, Qabbani said that Lebanon could not be held accountable for the accident since Unions des Transports Africans (UTA) was Guinea’s national air carrier and there was a bilateral transport accord between Lebanon and Guinea which set safety standards for flights.
“The crash had nothing to do with the open skies policy, and this policy does not affect the strictness in monitoring planes,” Qabbani said, adding that this issue should not be exploited politically. He also said that investigations were carried out according to the adopted international regulations. Qabbani insisted that safety at Beirut International Airport was excellent, adding that all departing planes underwent tight inspection.
As for Mikati, in reply to a question about political intervention and pressures on the Public Works Ministry to permit the landing of the plan, he said that there was a circular issued by the Civil Aviation that prohibited any mediation when it came to public safety.
Regarding the registration of the plane, Mikati said that legally this plane was not allowed to register in Lebanon. However, he added that since Lebanon agreed to landings as long as UTA abided by the Chicago Accord and the bilateral transport accord on safety standards, “we are obliged to recognize it and we approved it’s landing in Beirut, but legally we refused to register this company in Beirut’s airport.”
In response to the discussion on the feasibility of sending an MEA plane to each country where there are Lebanese emigrants, he said: “This is impossible, although we are asking MEA to increase its flights to Africa.”