Ostaran Times

[Hadash]

Ostaran Times

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Hôinôm: Airplane accident turns into safety scandal
By: Muong Quang Viên
Published: Dein 1587


A Hôi Airways advertisement.

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Earlier this year, the Ostaran country entered in world news after a commercial airplane from Hôi Airways crashed nearby Tiejungo coast, reportedly killing all of its 248 passengers. While most of the victims were of Hoinomese and Singanese citizenship, citizens from Mayari, Tiejungo, Tieguonese, Kazemuran, Florinthian, Oslanburgan, Svarna Surya, Mestra and Kortoa were declared between those killed or disappeared in the accident.

Now, several Hoinomese officials and businessmen are facing severe criticism, after documents from the internal investigation of the accident were leaked to a Tiejungo newspaper. The documents, although offering contradictory date in some cases, clearly show that the case of the accident was likely a technical fault instead of a human error as it was rumoured when the investigation started.

A leaked document shows that the airplane was one of the four Hôi Airways which failed to pass several tests by Hoinomese and other regional authorities. The Ministry of Telecommunications have rejected this claim, assuring that no airplane in such conditions were allowed to fly, and the airplane had to be repaired and, after that, it was able to pass test not only in Hôinôm, but in other foreign airports as well. Despite this denial, Hôi Airways' shares plummeted 29%, which brought the company's stock-market losses since the accident to $1.1bn.

Thuong Quang Bào, CEO of Hôi Airways, has denied any wrongdoings, claiming that the leaked documents may not be trustworthy, as "in every investigation there are contradictory information that could be proven false as the investigation continues...We will wait to the final report and the conclusion of the investigation, before making any further comment", he said. Bào is a businessman closely related to Lâm Thành Thuân, a cousin of Empress Hông. The Hoinomese government is the second largest shareholder of Hôi Airways, as it is own 33% of the company's stocks. About 11% of the stocks are also owned by an unidentified Goldecian investors, as it was recently published in a newspaper from Nam Dinh.

However, many of the leaked documents point to a second company, Hoangkam, owned by Phan Vân Vang, one of the richest men in Hôinôm. Hoangkam, established in 1578, is a steel manufacturer which supplies most of the motor, car, and aircraft companies based in Hôinôm, along with an increasing growth in Southern Ostara regional market.

The leaked documents show that the accident was likely caused by the bad quality of some of the aircraft equipment, most of them produced in factories owned or associated to Hoangkam company. In 1583, the company was already investigated by the Hoinomese state for the quality of products including aluminium and copper used in cars, trains, and defense equipment. "Those allegations were seriously investigated and corrected, and they have no relation with the current investigation", a Hoangkam spokesperson has declared.

But some of the leaked documents seem to contradict the company's statement, declaring some of the recovered parts of the aircraft were of "extremely bad qualify". A technical report even defined the accident as "an awaiting tragedy". Other leaked documents accuse Hoangkam of falsified data on the products used by the aircraft, one of the first one produced almost entirely by Hoinomese companies.

Dào Hùu Vang, an opposition MP, has called the government to examine other possible data manipulations going back a decade.  Hoangkam has supplied defense equipment to the Ministry of Defense, and steel products and train equipment were used in countries such as, beside Hôinôm, Singan, Mayari, Ishnalla, or Svarna Surya, in some cases directly or indirectly supplied by Hoangkam.

Hoangkam has threatened to sue the newspaper which published these leaked documents, claiming that they seem "aiming to create panic and spread unchecked information in the public opinion. The Hoinomese company has declared to be contacting its customers and working to establish whether the products it had supplied were safe, which they are sure it is likely the case. At the moment, it does not believe that safety has been compromised. "Verification and inspection to date have not recognised specific problems casting doubts on the safety of the nonconforming products", Hoangkam spokesperson said.

The case, however, has forced the Hoinomese government to set up a committee to investigate the quality issues, and hired a law firm to conduct an external investigation of all Hôi Airways aircraft, including those supplied by other countries. "We can't rule out the possibility that the external investigation will find other cases", a government spokesperson has declared. He added that customers had not raised any safey issues and that in the last months, no Hôi Airways aircraft was found was found with similar problems as the airplane which crashed nearby Tiejungo.

The Hoinomese government is currently under pressure to resolve the crisis quickly. "We ask Prime Minister Quang Công Quang to throughly look into the cases and take steps to prevent a recurrence as well as to make utmost efforst to rstore the trust of not only its customers, but of society a a whole", an op-ed published in Luỳên Enquire, a conservative newspaper usually supportive of current administration's policies.