TransAsia compensates victims’ families

Airline hands over 1.2 million TWD per death

TAIPEI: TransAsia Airways representatives yesterday met relatives of the victims of last week’s plane crash in Taiwan to discuss compensation after the company began distributing money to families of the deceased to cover the costs of funerals.

At the river crash site, divers searched for the bodies of the three missing people missing by using metal detectors to locate their watches or seat belts. At least 40 people died after the propeller-jet crashed into the muddy Keelung River minutes after takeoff on Wednesday from Taipei’s airport. Fifteen of the 58 people aboard the plane were rescued.

Preliminary investigations indicate the pilots of the TransAsia Airways ATR 72 shut off a running engine after its other engine went idle, a move aviation experts say was an error.

A spokesman for France-based plane maker ATR, who wishes to remain anonymous, said its aircraft are designed to be able to fly on a single engine.

The bulk of the passengers were from the Chinese mainland.

A TransAsia spokeswoman, Fang Chia-wen, said a second meeting will be held on Wednesday to discuss compensation further. She said the airline had already begun distributing 1.2 million Taiwan dollars (1.24 million baht) per victim to families. Premier Mao Chi-kuo told Taiwan’s private Formosa TV on Sunday that the priority was to find the missing people. Longer-term, he said the country needs to work on improving “our civil aviation in terms of its management and training’’.

Huang Han-chung, a member of the underwater search team, told the station that metal detectors had already located pieces of wreckage.

“Some bodies might have some metal on them, such as necklaces, watches and coins, which will be detected,’’ said Wu Junhung, a Taipei city fire department official. “There are still four seats missing, so it’s possible that the victims are still fastened in their seats by seat belt, that they sunk together with the seats to the bottom of the bank”.

“We’ve cancelled 90 flights in the last three days. We’ll cancel another 52 on Monday and Tuesday combined,” said Amy Chen, a vice president of the Taipei-based airline. Rescuers have so far recovered to 40 bodies. Taiwan’s aviation authorities have ordered TransAsia pilots to take proficiency tests, according to the Civil Aeronautics Administration.