Families of crash victims demand higher compensation

Families of crash victims demand higher compensation
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

TAIPEI, NOV 5: Bereaved families of the 25 Taiwanese killed in Tuesday's air crash today demanded an apology from the pilots and a local record amount of compensation from Singapore Airlines as an investigation into the tragedy continued.

"The three pilots must publicly apologise to our beloved ones who died in the crash," said Lin Chin-tang, whose daughter and granddaughter were killed in the Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIA) accident.

Lin also demanded a full explanation from the air carrier "so that those people killed in the crash would be aware in the heaven how they died."

Eighty-one people were killed when SIA flight SQ006 with 179 people on board crashed while taking off from Chiang Kai Shek airport during a typhoon.

Reports here today said some families of the 25 Taiwanese killed have turned down a compensation offer of US $ 400,000 for each victim by SIA.

"The unforgivable error made by the SIA pilots" pushed the group to seek higher compensation, it said.

An SIA official here said the company had informed the families of the dead, "who are due to receive the notification in two weeks."

"We have not had an initial response to our offer," she told AFP.

SIA would also pay medical expenses for those who were injured and discuss a compensation payout with them at a later date.