The families of some of the victims of the US-Bangla airplane crash in Nepal are finally going to receive compensation from the insurer on August 6.
According to the officials concerned, the maximum amount to be given to a victim is 53,500 US dollars, which was determined in line with the Warsaw Convention.
The compensation fund is now available with the reinsurer as they have already completed their survey.
"Compensation for eight victims of the plane crash will be handed over on August 6," Managing Director of the Sena Kalyan Insurance Company Ltd Brig Gen (retd) Shafique Shamim told the FE on Thursday.
Of the eight victims, seven people were killed and one person was injured. The injured person will get $ 42,000.
The compensation amount will vary person to person depending on a number of factors such as social and financial status, age, family and circumstances of loss of the victims.
Responding to a question, Mr Shamim said since there were legal disputes over the heirs to compensation, the process prolongs.
"So far, the court has cleared eight cases and we have decided to disburse the amount to them. We will pay others after the claimants concerned submit their succession certificates from the court," he said.
According to sources, the reinsurer initially offered $ 33,000 but after hectic negotiations, the amount was settled at around $ 50,000 per person.
However, the amount may go up to as much as $ 200,000 for the victim who is still undergoing treatment in India, sources said.
A US-Bangla aircraft crashed at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, on March 12 this year, killing 50 passengers out of 71. There were 27 Bangladeshi nationals on board, including four cabin crew.
Sena Kalyan Insurance Company, the main insurer of the aircraft, had reinsured half of the amount with Sadharan Bima Corporation and the remaining half with a leading British insurance company, XL Catlin, through insurance broker KM Dastur and Co.
Sadharan Bima Corporation also reinsured it with Catlin.
Since the accident, XL Catlin and Lloyd's of London assigned two law adjusters -- McLarens Aviation Limited and Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) -- for investigation and they have submitted their report recently determining the compensation amount for each individual.
HFW has assigned local law firm FM associates to settle the payment issue.
But families of the victims of US-Bangla plane crash are going to miss out on a fair compensation due to non-ratification of the Montreal Convention by the Nepal and Bangladesh governments.
According to the Article 21 of the 1999 convention, in case of death of passengers, the airline is liable to pay up to 100,000 Special Drawing Rights, equivalent to $145,462, to each passenger.
Civil aviation ministry officials said they have prepared a draft in a bid to ratify the Montreal Convention.
