Insurers start paying out air-crash claims

PHUKET: In addition to payouts due from the Thai Social Security Office and One-Two-Go airline, relatives of 31 deceased victims of flight OG269 collectively stand to receive more than 45 million baht in compensation from 15 Thai insurers. Some of the firms have already begun paying out claims.

Phuket Provincial Insurance Office Chief Suwimon Saelim on Thursday said her office had summarized the insurance carried by all the victims of the disaster. Of the 89 confirmed dead at the time the report was issued, 31 carried policies with Thai-registered insurers.

Fifteen Thai insurers will pay out a total of 45.3 million baht in individual claims, ranging from 50,000 baht to 20 million baht, she said.

Nearly half the total compensation was paid out Thursday afternoon on Soi Mae Lamai in Chalong, where representatives from Krungthai Card Public Co Ltd (KTC) and Dhipaya Insurance jointly handed over a check for 20 million baht to the relatives of Chawaphon Boonmeemeechai.

K. Chawaphon, Marketing Manager at the TOT office in Phang Nga, was a KTC platinum card holder who used his credit card to book his seat on the ill-fated flight.

KTC Card Country Operations Manager Thawatchai Thitisakdiskul said the families of KTC regular card holders Theerayuth Manoochinakorn and Sinchai Chai-aroon would receive one million baht each in claims.

Nuanphan Tantimas, regional manager of American International Assurance (AIA), told the Gazette that AIA has paid a total 9.9 million baht to the families of nine policy holders who perished in the crash and fire. Claims ranged from 200,000 baht to 2.8 million baht, she said.

In addition, the Social Security Office has paid compensation to the families of 18 deceased passengers and crew, including three of the five cabin crew and both pilots. The families of those who died during normal work hours were paid an initial amount of 100 times the minimum wage, or 19,100 baht.

The pilots’ families will also receive monthly payments of 12,000 baht per month for eight years, equivalent to 60% of the 20,000-baht wage ceiling over that period.

Families of the three dead cabin crew will receive 5,400 baht per month for eight years. The families of both pilots and crew are also eligible for a collective total of 79,456 baht in funds paid into the social security retirement fund.

In addition to compensating the families of the dead, the Social Security Office will pay medical expenses for two Dutch survivors incurred in Thailand under a mutual assistance treaty between Thailand and the Netherlands.

Thus far, One-Two-Go has announced that the families of each deceased victim will receive US$150,000, the Phuket Provincial Insurance Office said.

Relatives of the deceased needing assistance with insurance issues can contact the Phuket Provincial Insurance Office at 076-219269.