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House scrutinizes no-lawsuit deal in Sriwijaya crash victims' compensation
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A member of the Indonesian Red Cross sprays disinfectant on debris of Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182 at Tanjung Priok Port, North Jakarta, on Jan. 12, 2021. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
M
ore than a year after the Sriwijaya Air crash tragedy, some families of victims are still waiting for the compensation fund from the airline company. Lawmakers have highlighted that the compensation agreement that comes with a stipulation that prevents families from filing a lawsuit might be the culprit.
Sriwijaya Air flight SJ182, with 62 passengers and crew on Boeing B-737-500 aircraft, plunged into the Java Sea on Jan. 9 last year after it departed Jakarta bound for Pontianak in West Kalimantan, killing all on board.
At a hearing on Thursday at the House of Representatives’ Commission V, which oversees infrastructure and transportation, acting Director General of Civil Aviation Nur Isnin Istiartono said that 27 out of 62 families of victims of the Sriwijaya Air crash have yet to receive compensation.
Among 27 families, two families were close to receiving settlements and eight families were stalled in the process due to incomplete documents. The remaining 17 families refused to follow through with the process amid an ongoing lawsuit against the American-based aircraft company Boeing.
According to a 2011 Transportation Ministry regulation, an air-passenger carrier must give Rp 1.25 billion (US$79,503) for the family of each passenger killed in a flight accident.
Sriwijaya promised that each identified victim’s family is set to receive compensation of Rp 1.25 billion, with an additional Rp 250 million to help families hold funerals.
Commission V member Nurhadi of the NasDem Party (Nasdem) suspected that some families have yet to receive compensation because they refused to sign an agreement to not pursue legal action against the airline company.
