The payment of fair compensation for the deceased of the US-Bangla plane crash might remain as mysterious as the plane crash in Kathmandu. Families of the victims of the crash may miss out on a fair reparation of about Tk 12 million each.
Meanwhile, US-Bangla Airlines says those who were injured in the plane crash in Nepal and the families of the deceased will have to wait for the report by the insurers of the flight BS211.
Insiders said due to delays by the governments of Nepal and Bangladesh in signing the Montreal Convention, the deceased family might lose the amount of Tk 12 million as compensation.
Kamrul Islam, a spokesperson for US-Bangla, told the media, "We are working to ensure that the families of the deceased and the injured people get the compensation within the shortest possible time."
"But, when and how much compensation they will get can only be said after the insurance company's evaluation report is made available."
He said they sent a letter about the insurance claim to Sena Kalyan Insurance Company Ltd immediately after the crash on March 12.
According to the General Manager of US-Bangla, Kamrul Islam, the BS211 was covered by insurance services of British company KM Dastur or KMD and Bangladesh government's Sadharan Bima Corporation.
"We've informed the insurance firms. They have started working, and the onus is on them," he said.
He said Sena Kalyan and KMD already started investigating the crash. Sadharan Bima is also working on it, he said.
"We aren't sure which firm will provide how much of the compensation because we did not face such a situation before," he added.
Sadharan Bima says they are trying to ensure that the families of the deceased get $200,000 or Tk 16.6 million each.
The state-owned general insurance company's Managing Director Syed Shahriyar Ahsan said the US-Bangla would get $70 million as compensation.
According to Article 21 of the 1999 convention, in case of death of passengers, the airline is liable to pay $145,462 for each passenger. This works out to approximately Tk 12 million at the current exchange rate.
All airlines are covered by the mandatory insurance, which pays compensation in case of accidents. Passengers and their families must be aware of the compensation they are entitled to in case of an accident.
Since Nepal has signed the Warsaw Convention, the airline is liable to pay more than Tk 2.61 million per passenger.
The Montreal Convention, formally the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, is a multilateral treaty adopted by a diplomatic meeting of International Civil Aviation Organisation or ICAO member states in 1999.
The provisions of the convention say, "The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger upon condition only that the accident which caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking."
Bangladesh signed the Montreal Convention on May 28 in 1999, but it has not ratified the pact, sources said. Nepal has not signed the convention, although the process was initiated in 2010.
Among South Asian countries, India, Pakistan and the Maldives are signatories to the convention, hence, the rules apply to the passengers of these countries and each gets $145,462 in compensation.
Three more survivors of the US-Bangla plane crash in Nepal have returned to Dhaka on Friday, when they were admitted to the burns unit of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. "We are maintaining communications with all related parties. We will arrange the compensation for the families of the deceased after completing the investigation as early as possible," Syed Shahriyar Ahsan said.
US-Bangla's Kamrul said not all the families of the deceased will get the same amount of compensation.
The amount would vary on the basis of the number of family members, age, work status and many other factors, Syed Shahriyar Ahsan said.
Asked whether the Nepal authorities will pay compensation if their negligence is found, Kamrul said it can be said only after getting the report of an investigation being conducted jointly by Bangladesh, Nepal, International Civil Aviation Organisation and Bombardier, the maker of the plane.
