Dana Air owned by the Dana Group and Prestige Assurance have two
very things in common. Firstly Prestige Assurance is Dana Air’s insurance
company, secondly and perhaps less important, Prestige Assurace is also
owned largely by Indian nationals.
Dana
Air reportedly insured the ill-fated MD-83 with Prestige for $ 4.5 million. The
company will be liable to pay the family or next-of-kin to the victims a
minimum compensation of $ 100,000 each which totals to about $ 15 million
in minimum total passenger compensation. There will also be compensation for
the employees families, and the buildings and property destroyed by the crash
will have to be compensated.
A
rough estimate will indicate nothing less than $ 30 million (N 4.5 billion) in
compensation for the damage caused by the aircraft. It is also feasible that
after investigations, if Dana Air is found to have acted in neglect, it may be
liable to lawsuits, however that compensation will have to come from its own
coffers and not the insurance company.
Sunday
Thomas, the Director-General of the Nigerian Insurers Association said, “The
loss implication for the insurance companies is enormous. I just hope that the
plane was properly insured, there were about 153 passengers and crew members in
the plane.
“If
you look at the compensation that will be due to the individuals, apart from
the claims on the aircraft itself, and the ones that will be paid to the third
party individual buildings into which the plane crashed, the loss will be
high.”