Family Sues Airline After Freak In-Flight Accident Severs Part Of Baby’s Finger
A family has filed suit against a major Australian airline after an alleged in-flight accident caused a baby to lose part of his finger.
The parents of 2-year-old Cameron Dela Cruz were on-board a Qantas Airbus flight with their son from Manila, Philippines, to their home in Sydney on January 14 when, according to a Fox News report, a TV set nestled in the backseat of a fellow flyer fell out of its compartment and landed on the toddler’s hand as he rested it on an nearby armrest.
The wound incurred from the injury was reportedly so deep, a doctor was ultimately forced to surgically remove a section out of the tiniest digit of Cameron’s left hand.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph about the freak accident, Natalie Dela Cruz, Cameron’s mother, relayed that the Qantas Airline flight had been airborne for about 90 minutes when the TV suddenly fell on her baby’s finger.
“It was only an hour and a half into the flight [and] we had another six hours until we got to Sydney,” she recalled.
“It felt like the longest, worst flight of my life and we’ve done a lot of flying.”
As Cameron started to bleed heavily, the Dela Cruz’s say that they asked the captain to turn the plane around in hopes of having their baby properly treated for the airline accident at a Manila hospital. The Qantas flight commander purportedly denied that request.
Luckily for the family, however, another passenger, a surgeon, offered to step up and bandaged Cameron’s wound as his loved ones remained nestled around him. Mrs. Dela Cruz went on to refer to the kind doctor as being a “life saver.”
After finally being able to admit Cameron into a hospital upon landing, doctors expressed to Mr. and Mrs. Dela Cruz that their young boy’s finger may never fully recover from the Qantas Airline accident.
“The family is now claiming Cameron suffered a permanent disability that will hinder his ability to earn income later in life,” TravelPulse adds.
Filed in New South Wales Court on behalf of the Dela Cruz family by Thomas Janson of Shine Lawyers’ Transport Law Principal, the lawsuit against Qantas alleges that the airline is liable for the future pain and suffering of baby Cameron due to his future inability of properly caring for himself.
“The claim against Qantas concerns their liability for Cameron suffering an injury where his finger was amputated as a result of a faulty entertainment unit on his flight from Manila,” Mr. Janson stated to 9Honey about the lawsuit.
The Dela Cruz’s counsel went on to say that the family are legally entitled to about $150,000 ($200,000 AUD) in compensation from the airline under the ruling of the Montreal Convention, a multilateral treaty that was signed back in 2009 by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
“[The] ICAO works with the Convention’s 191 Member States and industry groups to reach consensus on international civil aviation Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) and policies in support of a safe, efficient, secure, economically sustainable and environmentally responsible civil aviation sector,” the official ICAO website reads.
Family sues Qantas after in-flight entertainment unit repor… https://t.co/4MmjU6gew1 via @FoxNewsTravel #travel pic.twitter.com/ia6t8XlFNu
— Travel'n Man (@tourntravelnews) February 23, 2017
Spokespersons for Qantas have yet to release a formal statement on Cameron’s accident, but the airline did express sympathy over what happened to his finger, via the Daily Telegraph.
“We can understand how upsetting this was for the family involved,” the company expressed.
“We were fortunate to have the assistance of a surgeon on-board, [as well as] the captain, [who] briefed MedLink [and was] advised that due to the stable condition of the child, it would be better to continue to Sydney.”
The Dela Cruz family have not commented on the airline’s apology for the accident that partially detached their baby’s finger.
[Featured Image by Aynur_sib/iStock]
