The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Thimphu District Court on 29th August 2025 awarded Nu 57.36 million (mn) or USD 641,592 (1USD = Nu 89.41) in economic and punitive damages to Gyem Gyeltshen and his two surviving daughters Kinley Pelden and Kinley Wangmo in the Druk Air helicopter crash case.
On the afternoon of 3rd March 2023, a Druk Air helicopter carrying 42-year-old Gyem Gyeltshen, his wife and their two daughters crashed at around 2.25 pm at Wachey in Lunana.
The crash resulted in the death of Gyem’s 38-year-old wife Dresang Pema and their four-year-old daughter, Nima Pelden. Gyem, his older daughter, Kinley Pelden and the pilot Stefan survived with injuries.
Two months before the crash The Bhutanese had published an investigative story in January 2023 on the Royal Bhutan Helicopter Services (RBHSL) which pointed out the mistreatment of Bhutanese helicopter pilots by expat pilots, safety issues being overlooked, break down in relations between the pilots and more. The article warned of a possible crash if nothing was done to improve safety standards.
Druk Air did not take any action, and the issues persisted until the crash on 3rd March 2023.
The Final Investigation Report on the crash essentially said the probable cause was human error of the pilot caused by management and relation issues. The investigation found nothing wrong with the engine and machinery of the helicopter.
Druk Air had an insurance policy with RICBL that covered the helicopter and the passengers. RICBL in turn had reinsured it with eight mainly international reinsurance companies.
Druk Air moved quickly to claim insurance for its lost helicopter at USD 3.4 mn and got it quickly, however, it kept Gyem in the dark about the passengers’ insurance for almost a year.
As per the insurance documents the insurance companies were supposed to pay USD 200,000 for each death without any litigation, but both Druk Air and the international reinsurance companies kept Gyem in the dark and they tried to get him to accept USD 10,000 for each death and sign a waiver form.
The Bhutanese exposed this and ran a series of investigative stories on this issue in early 2024.
Despite the insurance policy mandating them to give USD 200,000 per death, the companies cited local laws like the Road Transport Safety Act and the Bhutan Penal Code to argue that the compensation of a Bhutanese life inclusive of the death rituals is Nu 813,000 each.
With neither Druk Air or the international insurance companies budging, on 12th July 2024, farmer Gyem Gyeltshen, through his legal representative, decided to sue Druk Air seeking compensation for the deaths of his 38-year-old wife, Dresang Dema, and four-year-old daughter, Nima Pelden.
He was also seeking compensation for injuries and damages to himself and his other daughter who survived the crash with injuries and much emotional and mental trauma, and loss of cordyceps income.
The insurance also insures Druk Air for legal liabilities going up to USD 20 mn, like passenger legal liability, aircraft third party legal liability, cargo and baggage legal liability.
The aim of the lawsuit was to claim economic and punitive damages from the above bigger insurance amount.
In court Gyem’s lawyer, Chimi Dorji of Lamtoen Law, put up a total claim of USD 25 mn (USD 1 = Nu 83.75) or Nu 2.097 billion (bn).
The lawyer said that the economic damages due to inability to collect cordyceps by the two deceased and also the two surviving the crash (Gyem gave up his cordyceps collection) and lost household services was Nu 467.22 mn over their lifetime till the age of 65.
He said applying international principles, the non-economic damages for the surviving father and two daughters were Nu 1.629 bn.
The judgment did not accept Gyem’s claim on the insurance amount saying it is between Druk Air and the Insurance companies.
However, the court accepted that the accident was due to negligence and breach of duty of Druk Air.
The court accepted the logic of economic damages and took the average highest and lowest cost of cordyceps in Bhutan in 2022, 2023 and 2024 which comes to an annual income of Nu 1.58 mn per year.
The court awarded 15 years of such income to the late wife, who was a highly skilled cordyceps collector, 10 years of income to the dead child (for income from age 18 to 28) and another 10 years for the surviving Kinley Pelden (for income from age 18 to 28).
This brought the total economic damages from loss of cordyceps income to Nu 55.48 mn.
Gyem did not get any economic damages as the court said he did not have any major injuries.
When it comes to non-economic and punitive damages the court took 10 years for each of the three victims (deceased wife and child and surviving daughter in the crash) and awarded 30 years into the minimum national wage of Nu 150 per day.
This came to Nu 1.642 mn. The court then also asked Nu 81,000 to be paid as baggage damage.
The court did not accept Gyem’s submission that Druk Air pay the legal costs.
The court asked the Nu 1.15 mn be deducted from the total amount as Druk Air had paid it as semso and funeral expenses which Druk Air treated as an advance for the insurance amount.
This left Nu 56.2 mn for Gyem and his two daughters.
The court said there was breach of duty of care and negligence under the general principles civil liability and so it applied the Law of Torts.
The court cited the precedent cited by the Desuup Phub Gyem’s case where she sued two ministries and private individuals for Nu 28 mn in her accident case and won in 2022.
The court also used section 28.1 of the CCPC which is the ‘Power to fill Lacuna’ which states “Every Judge shall decide a case in accordance with the provisions of Law. Where any section is ambiguous or there exists lacuna, the decision of the majority Judges of the Supreme Court/High Court shall prevail.”
Gyem’s lawyer had submitted evidences like the Official Accident Report, investigative news articles by The Bhutanese and bank statements of Gyem and his family members.
The bank statement was to show the substantial savings of Gyem and his wife showing how their income was from cordyceps collection.
The court pointed out that the pilots did not follow the roster and the pilot had made sharp maneuvers before too, but Druk Air did not take any corrective action.
Both parties have appealed to the High Court, with Druk Air insisting by USD 10,000 for each death and Gyem’s lawyer asking for higher damages and punitive costs.
The amount awarded by the Thimphu District court is the highest to date for a civil liability case.
It is more than the USD 400,000 insurance amount, but still much lower than the USD 20 mn legal liability amount in the insurance amount.
Gyem’s lawyer made it clear that any recovery will not be from Druk Air per se, but it will have to be paid for by the international insurance companies for whom USD 641,592 is nothing much.
The unique nature of the above case is that the Civil Liability Act 2023 does not apply as the accident happened before the law came into effect.
