Happy New Year everyone!
And here, just to reassure, is a tale confirming that bureaucratic intransigence remains almost without limits in two civilised and friendly countries:
Do all British citizens get this level of „support“ from the Foreign Office? The Afghanistan refugees fleeing the Taliban certainly got a better deal than the family of this poor bloke, rest his soul.
I don’t think putting their trust in Priti Patel will help much.
Expat ;-), retiree more likely… Love how the Torygraph changes narrative depending which side immigration migrates to…
Yes. When it comes to pig-headed callousness, British bureaucrats have led the world for centuries.
What makes it worse is that unlike their counterparts in the DPRK, they are obstructive and mean because it pleases them to be so, not just to supplement their taxpayer-funded salaries, allowances and pensions. 
Or am I being unfair?
Is it just that in British law, for the purpose of hatches, matches and dispatches, a ship is the “territory” of its flag, no matter where it is floating or flying?
Is German law different in that respect?
Jacko wrote:
Is it just that in British law, for the purpose of hatches, matches and dispatches, a ship is the “territory” of its flag, no matter where it is floating or flying?
Not in case of a crash in that territory where if it were to be in French airspace – the BEA would lead the investigation etc…
Article 26 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention) states that, in the event of an accident to an aircraft of a Contracting State occurring in another Contracting State, and involving either death, serious injury, or serious technical defect in the aircraft or air navigation facilities, the State in which the accident occurs will institute an inquiry into the circumstances of the accident.
Annex 13 (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) to the Convention provides further international requirements for the investigation of aircraft accidents and incidents. It spells out which States may participate in an investigation, such as the States of Occurrence, Registry, Operator, Design and Manufacture. It also defines the rights and responsibilities of such States.
The State of Occurrence may delegate all or part of the investigation to another State or a regional accident and incident investigation organization, and may call on the best technical expertise available from any source to assist with the investigation. States of Registry, Operator, Design and Manufacture who participate in an investigation are entitled to appoint an accredited representative (with or without associated advisers) to take part in the investigation.
A State which has a special interest in an accident, by virtue of fatalities or serious injuries to its citizens for instance, is entitled to appoint an expert entitled to: visit the scene of the accident; have access to the relevant factual information which is approved for public release by the State conducting the investigation, and information on the progress of the investigation; receive a copy of the accident investigation Final Report. ICAO officials only participate in accident investigations upon special request from the State responsible for conducting the investigation.
Apparently the place of death will be where the passenger is declared dead. Found this, which is for the US.
According to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences after the plane lands and paramedics can tend to the passenger and legally pronounce death, the location the plane landed becomes the venue of death.
“It would be that jurisdiction’s medical examiner’s office that would take custody of the remains and perform the autopsy to certify the cause and manner of death,” Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences Spokesperson Tricia Rudisill Bentley said Thursday.
“Jurisdiction follows where the body is removed from the vessel, whether it’s a plane or a boat,” Bentley added. A death certificate has three fields regarding place of death. The field that normally has the street address or institution name where the death occurred will be completed with the latitude and longitude where they were actually pronounced in flight or at sea. The city and county fields will reflect where the body was removed from the vessel.
Assuming this would be the same in Europe and for the UK…
Jacko wrote:
Is it just that in British law, for the purpose of hatches, matches and dispatches, a ship is the “territory” of its flag, no matter where it is floating or flying?
I would believe that to be the case everywhere. Plane criss crosses over arbitrary countries all the time, and people die in them from time to time (heart diseases etc). If it were the country which just happens to be overflown at the time of death that has to produce death certificates, this would be pretty stupid and arbitrary.
But if I understand it correct. This was a British citizen living in Malta. He was flown from Malta to the UK in a German registered plane, and died in UK airspace ? One question still remains. Did the plane land in Germany too on the way from Malta?
LeSving wrote:
But if I understand it correct. This was a British citizen living in Malta. He was flown from Malta to the UK in a German registered plane, and died in UK airspace ? One question still remains. Did the plane land in Germany too on the way from Malta?
It would only matter if the body ended up in a coroner’s morgue in Germany…
