Rs1m compensation announced for crash victims’ kin
ISLAMABAD: Federal Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan has announced that he would quit if he was found responsible for the crash of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane on Friday.
Khan announced compensation for the families of those killed in the crash. He said the families of each deceased would receive Rs1 million ($6,227), while the two survivors would be given Rs500,000 each.
He told reporters at the crash site that a transparent inquiry would be conducted into air crash in Karachi, which took the lives of 97 passengers and promised to present the findings in parliament.
The minister did not give a timeframe for the presentation of the inquiry report but said he would endeavour to get it done in three months.
He revealed that a counter inquiry by the French and German experts belonging to the Airbus company, the manufacturer of the doomed A320, would also be conducted to ascertain the cause of the crash.
Soon after the incident, the prime minister ordered an immediate inquiry into the plane crash. Later, the Aviation Division formed a four-member committee, headed by Air Commodore Usman Ghani, the president of the Aircraft Accident and Investigation Board (AAIB), to investigate the PK8303 accident.
The minister said that there would be two inquiries. “There will be one departmental inquiry. The government has already notified the inquiry board, comprising senior and qualified officers of the Pakistan Air Force. They will conduct an independent inquiry,” he said.
“They will not be alone in conducting the inquiry. Alongside them, the Airbus, which manufactured the plane, will also conduct a counter-inquiry. Their experts, including French and German experts, will also come. They will also carry out their counter inquiry,” he added.
“So, there is no doubt that it will be a fair inquiry. I cannot give a timeframe [but] as a responsible person, I promise that the reports of both these inquiries will be made public and presented before parliament and the people as soon as possible.”
He said that anyone found responsible for the tragedy in the inquiry would be brought to justice. The government, he added, would take “100%” responsibility if there was any negligence leading to the crash. “Whoever is responsible, they will be made to resign.”
Talking to Xinhua, Meeran Yousuf, media coordinator of the health minister of Sindh province, said that all the 97 people were the passengers and 21 of them have been identified and their remains were handed over to relatives while identification of the rest was underway.