Air crash families may wait years for result in lawsuit

Family members of 21 people killed in last year's China Eastern Airlines plane crash in Baotou, Inner Mongolia , will probably have to wait at least two years for a result in their civil compensation suit lodged in a US state court.

Flight MU5210 to Shanghai burst into flames less than a minute after takeoff from Baotou on November 21 last year and plunged into a frozen lake, claiming the lives of all 47 passengers and six crew on board, along with two people on the ground.

The US-based law firm representing the families, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann and Bernstein, lodged the suit in California last week against mainland carrier China Eastern Airlines, US-based engine producer General Electric and Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier. In Beijing yesterday, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Robert Nelson, said the crash might have been caused by the plane's controversial design, the engine's inability to withstand ice and the carrier's failure to request ice removal before takeoff.

'The CRJ200 hard wing is unforgiving and may have combined with negligence by China Eastern pilots to cause the crash,' Mr Nelson said. 'We have hired investigation companies. But the problem is they haven't had any access to the plane, which is frustrating.'

Almost a year after the crash, the Chinese industry watchdog, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, has yet to release the findings of its investigation. Under regulations issued in 2000, reports into plane crashes should be submitted to the State Council within 120 days of the incident.

Mr Nelson said the law firm's investigation was continuing without help from the central government. 'Now they are required by law to answer what happened as we filed the lawsuit,' he said.