Kish Airlines starts compensating families of victims

Kish Airlines has started compensating the families of passengers who died in the air crash in Sharjah this year.

The airline declined to release details of the compensation package or the number of people who have been compensated.

A source from Kish Airlines told Gulf News yesterday that procuring documents and getting in touch with the families of the victims was a lengthy process.

"For example, in a place like India, the whole process of getting the documents starts from the village or the place from where the victim is hailing from.

"Then one has to get in touch with the home department, the external affairs ministry and the UAE foreign affairs. So the whole process is a lengthy one.

"We will not be able to tell you exactly how much claim amount is been given. Details will be released shortly. The process of giving compensation to the victim's families started a month after the crash.

"As per our ticket contract, the claim is $26,000, but we are giving much more than this amount."

The Kish Airlines flight crashed near Sharjah-Ajman border on February 10 at 11:40am, killing 43 of 46 people on-board.

The twin-engine Dutch made Fokker 50 aircraft, flight IRK 7170, crashed while it was coming from Kish Island, and was on a visa-change run.

Passengers on-board the aircraft included 14 Iranians, 12 Indians, four Egyptians, two Filipinos and one each from Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Nepal, Nigeria, Sudan and Syria.

The survivors were an Iranian, an Egyptian and a Filipino.

P. Suresh, an Indian who lost his younger brother in the crash, told Gulf News yesterday he has received the compensation from the airline.

"It is not right for me to tell you how much my family received. It's not something that I should be proud off. I lost my brother, a loss that can never be compensated.

"The airline got in touch with me and asked me to get some documents that would verify the legal heir to receive the compensation.

"We provided all the documents and I received the money. It has already been sent to my parents in India."

"The process of giving compensation to the victim's families started a month after the crash. As per our ticket contract, the claim is $26,000, but we are giving much more than this."