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Surabaya mayor provides insurance law experts
Praying for loved ones: Members of Mawar Sharon Church attend a prayer service held for relatives of AirAsia flight QZ8501 victims in Surabaya
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span class="inline inline-center">Praying for loved ones: Members of Mawar Sharon Church attend a prayer service held for relatives of AirAsia flight QZ8501 victims in Surabaya. About 40 members of the church were aboard the plane that crashed into the Karimata Strait a week ago. AP/Firdia Lisnawati
Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini has offered experts on insurance law from Surabaya Airlangga University, East Java, to help the families of the victims on AirAsia flight QZ8501, which crashed into the Karimata Strait.
'I don't understand law in the insurance world. That's why I asked insurance law experts from Airlangga University to assist the victims' families,' Risma, as the mayor is affectionately called, told The Jakarta Post, Sunday.
Risma said that the experts would assist the victims' families by examining the calculated insurance values and reading the insurance contract thoroughly so they would not become victims again.
'I want AirAsia to pay to the victims' families thoroughly,' she said.
She added that assistance would be available for non-Surabayans as well and that she was ready to help communicate with heads of the regions where the respective victims originally came from.
Risma said that all the data concerning the victims who originally came from Surabaya had been collected 12 hours after the aircraft lost contact with Jakarta air traffic control and was sent to banks and insurance offices.
Ronny Tanubun who represented passenger Adrian Fernando, 13, of Surabaya welcomed the mayor's move, saying that it was the right step to take as most of the families of the flight accident victims did not understand insurance.
'I conveyed my misgivings to Bu Risma after receiving the calculated insurance payments from AirAsia several days ago,' Ronny said.
The aircraft plunged into the Java Sea along with its 155 passengers and 7 crew on Dec. 28. Most of the passengers were Surabaya residents.
AirAsia President Director Sunu Widyatmoko did not respond to the question regarding the insurance payments during a press briefing conducted at the East Java police's crisis center.
Previously, AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said that his company would take full responsibility for all the victims and crew members of the ill-fated flight and would provide compensation for the families of the victims.
Separately, chairman of the East Java branch of the Consumer Protection Institute Foundation (YLPK), Said Sutomo, said his office was preparing to sue AirAsia if investigations revealed that the company violated flight license and passenger safety procedures.
'The government should withdraw all AirAsia aircraft operating in Indonesia so that their safety measures can be audited,' said Said.
Meanwhile, Associated Press reported that around 100 family members of AirAsia Flight 8501 crash victims sought strength Sunday, one week after the disaster, while bad weather again prevented searchers from reaching a large object on the ocean floor that is believed to be the fuselage.
Emotionally exhausted relatives sang and cried at a tiny chapel in Surabaya, the city where the plane departed from last Sunday with 162 crew members and passengers. The Rev. Philip Mantofa, who heads the congregation at the city's Mawar Sharon Church ' where more than a quarter of the crash victims were members ' urged those gathered to find comfort in their faith while embracing the reality that no one survived the disaster.
'If God has called your child, allow me to say this: Your child is not to be pitied,' Mantofa told one Indonesian man seated in the front row. 'Your child is already in God's arms. One day, your family will be reunited in heaven.'
