Crew Failed To Follow Emergency Procedures; Crash Killed 16

A pilot who prosecutors say opted to pray when confronted with an inflight emergency, instead of attempting to remedy the problem, was sentenced to 10 years in prison this week for his role in a 2005 crash that claimed the lives of 16 people.

The Associated Press reports prosecutors found Chefik Gharbi and his co-pilot, Ali Kebaier Lassoued, of manslaughter in connection to the August 6, 2005 downing of an ATR-72 turboprop airliner off the coast of Sicily. The ANSA news agency reports data obtained from the cockpit voice recorder showed Gharbi panicked when the airliner's engines spooled down due to fuel starvation, told the co-pilot he was in command and then began to pray.

Italian investigators say the primary cause of the accident was an improperly installed fuel gauge, made for the smaller ATR 42 model, that did not show the fuel tanks to be nearly empty as the plane departed the Adriatic port of Bari bound for the Tunisian resort of Djerba. When the aircraft's left engine failed, the crew attempted to set up for an emergency landing at Palermo... but the second engine failed before the aircraft could make landfall.

Both pilots were sentenced for the crime, because prosecutors determined the men failed to implement proper ditching procedures before the aircraft impacted the choppy waters of the Mediterranean. Gharbi was initially hailed for his role in helping save 21 passengers.

Palermo Judge Vittorio Anania also sentenced five other people -- including executives with Tunisair charter subsidiary Tuninter, now known as Sevenair -- for unspecified roles in the accident. Two others were acquitted, according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Gharbi's defense lawyer, Francesca Coppi, said her client "is convinced that he did all he could to save as many lives as possible... Faced with danger, he evoked his God just like anyone of us would do."

FMI: www.sevenair.com.tn/