Italian court sentenced him to 10 years in prison pilot a passenger plane, which in an emergency situation, succumbed to panic and began to pray, rather than follow the instructions.

In August 2005, the aircraft Tuninter ATR-72, which is sent from the Italian city of Bari on the island of Djerba in Tunisia, fell into sea 13 kilometers away from Sicily after his tanks are not remaining fuel.

On board were 39 people, including five crew members, 23-m of them managed to escape.

The Court found that a Tunisian pilot Chafik Gharbi, who drove a plane, is guilty of homicide by negligence. According to the investigation, after the shutdown of both engines is not the pilot tried to reach out to the nearest airport, and began to pray aloud.

concluded for a period of 8 to 10 years sentenced six people, including co-pilot and head of the airline Tuninter.

All the accused will not serve their sentences pending appeal.

This is an unprecedented verdict, but we have always said that this was an unprecedented event – said Niki Persico, representing in court the interests of victims. – This is the first time in the history of aviation, when there was a similar set of circumstances.

Not the sensor

After a disaster, many of the surviving passengers had kept themselves in the water, some of them stick to the fuselage wreckage.

In 2007, the Italian Commission for the safety of air transport has determined that the cause of the accident was the fault gauge.

Airplane spent all of the fuel because the fuel specialists focused on the wrong indicators toplivomera.

It turned out that the day before departure, it was mistakenly installed a fuel sensor, produced for the other aircraft – a similar model, but with fewer tanks.