Kozhikode crash: Air India Express offers final compensation to all injured flyers, victims' kin
New Delhi(PTI): Air India Express said it has made final compensation offers to all 165 passengers, who were injured and the next of kin of 19 flyers who died in the plane crash, in Kerala's Kozhikode district last year.
According to the airline, 80 out of the 165 injured flyers have taken up the offers as on August 6. The airline is awaiting acceptance of the offers from the remaining 85 injured flyers and the next of kin of the 19 deceased passengers.
"We have not received any rejection on the offers made from the injured passengers or the next of kin of the deceased. Also, no legal case has been filed on the offers made," an Air India Express spokesperson told PTI.
The Air India Express flight from Dubai with 190 people on board, including a six-member crew, overshot the tabletop runway during landing at the Kozhikode airport amid heavy rains on August 7, 2020.
It fell into a valley 35 feet below and broke into pieces, killing 19 passengers and the two pilots. A total of 165 passengers and four cabin crew members were injured in the crash.
The spokesperson said the carrier paid the interim compensation to the injured persons and the next of kin of the deceased persons by September 2020.
The interim compensation was Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of deceased passenger of more than 12 years of age, Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased passenger of less than 12 years of age, Rs 2 lakh for critically injured passenger and Rs 50,000 to injured passenger.
Once the interim compensations were given to the victims, the airline gave them the claim forms so that full and final compensation offers for each of them could be calculated, he said.
The spokesperson added that the airline made the full and final compensation offers to each of the injured passengers and the next of kin of the deceased flyers between November 2020 and April 2021.
"The airline started organising one-to-one meetings in Kozhikode to address the concerns or doubts of the injured passengers and the next of kin regarding the offers made. A total of 138 one-on-one meetings have taken place till August 6," he mentioned.
He said the full and final compensation offers have also been made to the four injured cabin crew members and the next of kin of the two deceased pilots, and they have been accepted.
Five days after the plane crash, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) had formed a five-member panel to inquire into the circumstances of the accident. The panel is yet to submit its report.
Captain S S Chahar, former DGCA-designated examiner for pilots of the B737NG aircraft, is the investigator-in-charge in the panel.
He is assisted by operations expert Ved Prakash, senior aircraft maintenance engineer-B737 Mukul Bhardwaj, aviation medicine expert Y S Dahiya and AAIB deputy director Jasbir Singh Larhga.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
