Shanghai Residents File Class-action Suit Against ROK Air

Thirty seven Shanghai families have lately filed a class-action suit against ROK Air to the First Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai, demanding public apology and a total compensation of over 7m yuan for their losses in the "April 15" plane crash last year.

The aforesaid court has accepted the case and an open trial is soon to be expected.

The ROK Air MD-11 took off at 16:04 from Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport for Seoul, but it soon went down from an altitude of 1,000 meters and hit a construction site in the city's Minhang District, causing three deaths, dozen injuries and killing all passengers aboard.

The plaintiffs are all residents living in Minhang District. They said the plane crashed in a site only 120 meters away from where they were living. The strong "earthquake", shock wave and flying segments had caused great damage to their houses as a whole, the residents told.

The crashing of ROK airliner and damages caused had seriously infringed their legal rights on normal use of housing and had brought them great hurt in spirit and their minds, residents said. They had once requested apology and compensation from ROK Air but it evaded responsibility and lacked sincerity for solving problems, leaving them no other choice but taking legal action to protect their rights, these Shanghai residents said.

Besides a public apology, the plaintiffs also demand economic compensations mainly for their housing damage, spiritual hurt and work delay, as well as money spent on moving out, medical treatment, etc, and fees for whole charge of the case.

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/