The Aviation Safety Council (
The ASC had confirmed that the accident killed 82 of the 179 people on board the flight to Los Angeles, caused by the pilot's attempting to take off on a runway closed for repair at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport. The jetliner hit construction machinery on the runway, which caused the fatal explosion of the plane.
The ASC says that it has observed local prosecutors from the Taoyuan district prosecutors' office "contravening international practice" by "interfering" in the investigation.
The Taoyuan district prosecutors' office has claimed that it might file a lawsuit against the three pilots of the deadly flight, saying that the pilot's error in the accident could amount to homicide on the basis of professional negligence.
Yong Kay (
The prosecutors' office, however, insists that whenever any incident involves death, it should be in full charge of the investigation.
Yong argued that international practice usually involves penalizing the airline involved in an accident, designating the case a "civil suit" instead of seeking to establish the criminal liability of those responsible for accidents. "International practice suggests the most rigorous punishment for a pilot for a fatal incident is revoking his license forever," Yong said.
"It is very difficult to apportion blame specifically to anybody in an air crash. The accident always occurs after a chain of many crucial causes," Yong said.
"In addition, a criminal penalty, in a sense, is designed to deter others from committing the crime," Yong said, "but no pilot would cause an accident on purpose, so why should there be any deterrence?" Yong said.
An International Civil Aviation Organization treaty has stated that the purpose of investigation of any air accident is to prevent another similar incident rather than to punish those responsible.
"Such an action would have lasting consequences, such as the condemnation and boycott of Taiwan by the international community, and the heightening of tension surrounding our negotiation of aviation rights with foreign countries," Yong said. "Acting against international practice will have a definite impact on Taiwan's international reputation."
The ASC has attributed the claim of the prosecutors involved to their lack of understanding of international convention. "We are definitely having to spend time -- delaying the investigation -- to educate the prosecutors involved," Yong said.
"In fact, all such investigations in other countries are fully conducted by a professional investigation team instead of prosecutors to meet the proficiency requirements," Yong said. "Only when the team finds the accident to be a deliberate crime, would the case be transferred to investigative departments in the country concerned. But I'll be greatly surprised if our prosecutors will withdraw," he said.
The prosecutors' office in Taoyuan declined to comment on their alleged conflict with international practice. The issue first arose when prosecutors refused to allow Singapore officials to enter the crash site.
The ASC said the prosecutors did so with the intention of avoiding "foreigners in our territory intruding on our legal process."
A Taoyuan prosecutor leading the prosecutors' team in the investigation, had defended the insistence of prosecutors as "ensuring our judicial sovereignty."
The ASC is now facing another "communication problem with prosecutors," Yong said. The prosecutors would allow neither the ASC nor foreign experts to view the bodies of those killed in the accident to determine survival factors in the incident for better prevention of fatalities in future air crashes, which the ASC again alleges is against international practice.
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