TransAsia's NT$14.9m offer rejected by families of crash victims
CNA and Staff Reporter
2015-02-12
Relatives of victims in last week's TransAsia Airways crash in Taipei, Feb. 11. (Photo/Huang Shih-chi)
Taiwan's TransAsia Airways offered Wednesday to pay NT$14.9 million (US$473,000) in compensation for each person killed in the Feb. 4 crash of one of its planes in Taipei, an offer which was immediately rejected by the victims' families.
The victims' relatives in attendance at the second mediation hearing since the crash that killed at least 42 people, expressed dissatisfaction with the sum and method of payment.
The offer extended by TransAsia CEO Chen Hsin-te consisted of NT$13.5 million (US$427,500) in compensation in addition to a NT$1.2 million (US$38,000) funeral subsidy and the NT$200,000 (US6,300) in consolation money that has already been paid to each victim's family.
Company representative Liu Chung-chi said the victims' families did not mention a figure of their own but the airline will continue communicating with them to find a solution agreeable to all parties.
The airline's offer would amount to over NT$600 million (US$19 million), a sum that Liu said would definitely affect the carrier's finances.
A total of 58 people, 53 passengers and five crew, were on board the ATR 72-600 plane that crashed into the Keelung River on the outskirts of Taipei shortly after taking off from nearby Songshan Airport.
Forty-two people have been confirmed dead and 15 others were injured. One passenger remains unaccounted for as of Wednesday, a full week after the crash. TransAsia has promised that search and rescue operations will continue.
The Taipei crash was the second fatal accident for the Taipei-based airline in seven months. One of its ATR 72-500 planes crashed when trying to land in the outlying island county of Penghu on July 23 last year amid bad weather, killing 49 of the 58 people on board.
Families of the deceased received payouts of NT$14.9 million after the Penghu accident.