FlyDubai victim families to get Dh74,000 each

Dubai - Meanwhile, the Governor of Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, has also ordered a payment of around $15,000 - or Dh55,000 - compensation to each of the victims' families

Flydubai has announced that, for starters, it would pay $1.24 million, or Dh4.59 million, to the families of 62 people aboard on flight FZ981. This is an initial payment and there will be more payment to the families of all 62 people. Specifically, families of each passenger on flight FZ981 will receive a 'hardship payment' of $20,000 - or Dh74,000 each.
The initial payment of $20,000 per passenger will be "in accordance with our Conditions of Carriage, with the aim of addressing immediate financial needs," the Dubai carrier said in a statement.
On Saturday, all 62 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 passenger jet flying from Dubai to Rostov-on-Don were killed when flight FZ981 crashed.
Meanwhile, the Governor of Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, has also ordered a payment of around $15,000 - or Dh55,000 - compensation to each of the victims' families.
The bodies of the victims are too fragmented for visual identification, according to Russian media, so relatives of victims will not be required to identify their loved ones. Identification of the remains will take place with the help of DNA analysis. The remains have been gathered by investigators and taken to a morgue, DonDay.ru reported.
Media reports said that several of the victims were well-known, including a senior doctor at the Rostov Regional Hospital 2 Igor Pakus and his wife Galina; the wife and daughter of the head of the Azov district Valery Bevzyuk; chairman of the territorial election commission of the Oktyabrsky district of Rostov, Elena Chernova and her husband Dmitry; and director of the Centre of Plastic Surgery Regional Clinical Hospital 1, Oleg Chistyakov, and his wife and five-year-old son.
Insurance cover
It's mandatory for all airlines to take insurance cover as a standard practice for every flight and passengers but there are different policies to cover different things, according to a senior aviation specialist.
"It is standard practice for airlines to be fully insured for any and every airport/flight related eventuality. Without such cover, they would not be allowed to fly as insurance forms part of the mandate of having an air operator certificate," Saj Ahmad, the chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, told Khaleej Times.
On Sunday, Russian Transportation Minister Maxim Sokolov said that flydubai is covered by insurance worth $500 million, according Rossiya-24.
abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai