Tragedy of Austral: Victims of Victims Stand Up Against the Company and Accuse of Buying "Flat Junk"

Eduardo Poggi is one of the relatives of one of the victims of the Austral tragedy, which occurred in 1997 when flight 2553 from Posadas crashed in Fray Bentos, Uruguay. , making 74 dead. Poggi recounted how he had heard the news and said that at that time he was in Buenos Aires and was waiting for his wife, who was aboard the plane. "I went to ask how late the flight was and they said I was missing," he said.

Eduardo Poggi, family member of one of the victims of Radio Libertad.

"They handled the information very badly, it was terror, it is not worth telling what happened, it is that this tragedy will be resolved today in the courts after 23 years of 'wait,' said Mr Poggi. The case counts 35 accused and begins today the oral and public trial for this crime in the premises of the Federal Court No. 5 of the city of Buenos Aires.

"I want the culprit to be found." Talking about justice in Argentina is very delicate, I understand that if things followed their natural course, there would be no barrier, "he said. In addition, attacked the company involved accusing that "a fleet of junk aircraft that were to be discarded was purchased" and that "one of those planes is the one that fell."

Poggi confirmed that, from his point of view, the accident was exclusively due to "a technical problem" and not to the negligence of the pilot or the cabin crew. "There are 35 people charged, I do not know if everyone will be imprisoned, some are 80 years old and even if they were found guilty, they would not be imprisoned," he said.

Flight 2553 took off from the city of Posadas and headed for Buenos Aires when the plane began to crash and crashed in Uruguay. As a result of the accident, 74 people died and the record of the tests carried out at the time, according to the Uruguayan Accident Investigation Commission, stated that this was due to "accidents". errors in the decision making of the crew that had led the plane to leave its limits, losing speed in the midst of a furious storm, with difficulties in communication with the airport Ezeiza and without realizing that he was already on Uruguayan territory ".

A.B.V.