Families of victims of the Yeti Airlines plane crash are likely to lose lakhs in compensation as the Nepal government has not ratified the crucial air carrier’s liability and insurance draft bill, according to a media report on Friday.
On 15 January, a Yeti Airlines plane crashed into a ditch near the newly-built airport in Pokhara, killing all 72 passengers, including five Indians, in the country’s worst air disaster in 30 years.
The Kathmandu Post reported that in 2020, Nepal finalized a draft bill on a system of liability for domestic passengers, two years after adopting the Montreal Convention 1999, which holds airlines liable in case of death or injury to passengers. makes.
The draft Air Carriers’ Liability and Insurance Bill proposes a five-fold increase in compensation in case of death or injury, the report said.
It added that as per the applicable law, domestic airlines will have to pay a minimum compensation of USD 100,000 for injury or death of a passenger.
The report states that at present, the minimum compensation for death of airline passengers on a domestic flight in Nepal is USD 20,000.
The report states that the draft bill states that carriers should make an advance payment where it determines it is necessary to meet the immediate economic needs of a passenger or the families of victims.
As per the proposed law, a compensation claim must be filed against the airline or its agents within 60 days of the incident.
Nepal’s tourism ministry officials say the proposed law is a modified version of the Montreal Convention 1999 as there are several clauses that domestic airlines will not be able to comply with.
The draft bill does not consider the liability of air carriers and insurance for flight delays including unlimited claims, the report said.
“The draft bill is ready and we plan to table it in the cabinet,” said Budhi Sagar Lamichhane, joint secretary in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
He said, ‘After getting the green signal from the cabinet, the bill will be introduced in the Parliament.’
Ministry officials lamented the frequent changes in government and political stability in Nepal as reasons for the slow progress of the bill.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday appointed Sudan Kiranti as the new tourism minister.
The Yeti Airlines plane was insured by the Himalayan Everest Insurance Company, which said the families of the victims may not have to wait long to receive compensation. Neeraj Pradhan, senior manager, underwriting department, Himalayan Everest Insurance Company, said independent surveyors sent by the reinsurance company abroad have already started work to assess the damage.
“It may not take much time for the family members to get their money, but it takes a long time to settle the claims of the aircraft,” Pradhan said.
“We settled the claims arising out of the Tara Air crash last May within three months,” Pradhan said.
Yeti Airlines spokesperson Sudarshan Bartaula said that they expect payments to start within a month of the postmortem report.
According to Nepal’s civil aviation body, 914 people have died in air accidents in the country since the first disaster was reported in August 1955.
It added that Nepalese domestic carriers fly over 4 million passengers annually.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)