PK-8303 crash victims' heirs to get Rs5m insurance amount each

KARACHI: The ill-fated Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane PK-8303 that crashed into a residential area near Karachi airport on May 22 was insured for around 20 million dollars, ARY News reported.

A spokesperson for the national flag carrier said the plane was acquired from a foreign leasing company in 2014 on a six-year dry lease which was to expire in July 2020. The airline has been paying a lease amount of over 300,000 dollars to the firm every month.

The A320 aircraft was insured for 20 million dollars that will go to the leasing company, sources privy to the matter said. The passengers were also insured for Rs5 million each, they said, adding the legal heirs of the victims of the air crash will be provided the insurance amount.

The visiting team of French experts that arrived here on May 26 to extend assistance in the PK-8303 crash probe had returned to France on Monday morning upon completion of their task.

The French team along with two members of the Pakistani Aircraft Accident and Investigation Board boarded a Paris-bound flight at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi. They also took the ill-fated plane’s black box and cockpit voice recorder with them to begin work on decoding them.

The team returned home after completing the task that included a detailed examination of the crash site, runway, engine parts, air traffic control system, and finding the cockpit voice recorder.

Heirs of PK-8303 crash victims to get insurance amount of Rs5m each