Garuda settles out of court with man's family

Garuda settles out of court with man's family

TOKYO (AP): Garuda Indonesia Airways said it has reached an out-of-court settlement on compensation with the family of a man killed in a 1996 plane crash in southwestern Japan.

Garuda spokesman Tadahisa Yotsumoto declined to disclose the cash figure on the settlement reached Jan. 9 with the family of Koichi Imamura, 39. But Kyodo news service reported that it was at least 16 million (US$128,000).

The Garuda DC-10 jetliner carrying 250 passengers and 15 crew members crashed on June 13, 1996, at Fukuoka's international airport, skidded off the runway into a field and burst into flames.

Three people, all Japanese, were killed, and 170 people were injured.

An investigation by Japan's Transport Ministry last November blamed the crash on pilot error.

The pilot, who saw that one engine had failed, aborted takeoff unnecessarily, although he had received a signal that it was too late to abort without crashing, it said.

Although one of three engines had failed, the other two could have lifted the plane, and it could have been brought around for a safe landing, the report found.

"It is great that we were able to come to an agreement," Yotsumoto said.

The airliner was still negotiating with the family members of two other Japanese victims -- Masakazu Okuda, 68, and Masatoshi Yoshida, 44.

Yotsumoto said Garuda has settled out of court with almost all of the injured passengers, but two are still receiving medical treatment at hospitals. The family members of those killed did not sue the airliner, he said.