Displaced by Sukhoi 22 plane crash, Ma’een residents receive government compensation

SANA’A, March 10 — A committee assigned by the Ministry of Public Works and Highways began a survey Saturday of the Sukhoi 22 aircraft crash site near the Change Square of Ma’een District to verify the reports made by the Secretariat Compensation Committee.  

Over six houses were damaged by the military aircraft, which plummeted to the ground on February 22, killing 11. The Secretariat agreed to compensate those whose homes were damaged by the crash and so far has made good on his promise, granting an initial YR500,000 or about $2,300 in compensation to 15 families, Mujahid Al-Khalidid, the general manager of Ma’een said.

The Compensation Committee assigned Waleed Rafe and Abdulraqeeb Ata, managers of the public works office, to hire local contractors. The buildings will be repaired as soon as possible, Al-Khalidi said, but did not specify when that reconstruction would begin. In the meantime, the compensation is expected to sustain those displaced by the damages for up to six months.

Abdulkhaleq Mohammed’s three-floor house sustained damages. He is content with the compensation.

“The Secretariat cooperated with us,” Mohammad said, “I’m optimistic that my house will be repaired.”

Mustafa Al-Shamiri, another displaced tenant, agreed that the Secretariat has been cooperative—and he, too, received compensation—but remains skeptical that his home will be rebuilt.

“I wish the government would fulfill its pledges of rebuilding and repairing the houses,” he said.

Yahia Taj Al-deen has not received any compensation. He said the first floor of the six-storey building, where he is the landlord, was damaged.

“The sewer pipes in my house were completely destroyed,” Al-Deen said. His tenants left. He’s lost all of the money that he would otherwise have collected from their rent, he said.

The Russian-made aircraft that fell to the ground last month was running routine military operations over this residential area when a technical malfunction caused the pilot to lose control of the plane, a recent fact-finding committee found. Three months prior, another military plane crashed in the Hasaba area of Sana’a.

Despite the fact that Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi has issued statements calling on the military to find alternative areas for training, far from residential areas, no new plans have been announced.