Indian newlyweds' parents sue over US crash

Los Angeles: The parents of a young Indian newlywed couple who died in a tourist helicopter crash near Las Vegas last week are suing the chopper company involved for negligence, lawyers said Wednesday.
The deaths of Lovish Bhanot, 28, and his new wife Anupama Bhola, 26, was "every family's worst nightmare," said attorney Gary Robb after filing papers in Clark County District Court in Nevada.
The legal action came after an initial investigation report said that the aircraft, operated by Sundance Helicopters, had inexplicably veered off course in the last minute before it crashed in a ravine last Wednesday.
The pilot and all four passengers died when the chopper they were taking to see the Hoover Dam, a popular tourist flight, crashed in mountains near the Nevada gambling city.
Bhanot was the managing director of Lyca Investment Ltd, a family-owned real estate company, and his wife was a stewardess for Air India, he said.
"The families are heartbroken by these deaths and they want answers," said Robb, a specialist in helicopter crash litigation, who is based in Kansas City, Missouri.
"This is every family's worst nightmare, than an occasion of joy and celebration would turn into a needless tragedy," he added, saying the families hope that, through legal action, future similar crashes can be avoided.
Citing the initial National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report, the lawsuit claims that Sundance Helicopters were "negligent in failing to provide a proper and safe helicopter and/or proper and safe piloting to those aboard."
"This helicopter crash has all the indications of a loss of control problem which would have to be either mechanical or pilot-induced," said Robb. "That is the only conceivable explanation for the erratic and abnormal flight maneuvers of this aircraft just prior to the crash."
15/12/11 AFP

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Dec 2011, Safety Dec 2011