Airline denies negligence over crash

A Singapore-based airline has dismissed allegations that the crash of one of its planes four years ago was due to the company's negligence.

One-hundred-and-four people died when the Boeing 737 came down in Indonesia. Relatives of six of them are suing the airline, SilkAir.

They say the company knew the pilot was mentally unsound and a potential danger to his passengers.

Lawyers for SilkAir told the court hearing in Singapore there was no evidence the pilot had deliberately brought the plane down.

They said a police report had concluded that the pilot Tsu Way Ming had not been suicidal.

The SilkAir flight from Jakarta to Singapore crashed into a river in Sumatra in December 1997.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service