Mangalore crash: AI sets up 6 centres to expedite claims

AI's first priority is to expedite compensation to the victims' families, AI's emergency response coordinator Harpreet Singh De told reporters here.

De said AI has set up 6 centres at Mumbai, Kozhikode, Delhi, Dubai, Chennai and Mangalore for facilitating claims for interim compensation.

The airline has decided to release an interim payment of Rs 10 lakh for the families of each adult killed in the tragedy, Rs five lakh for children below 12 years and two lakh for the injured.

Altogether 128 bodies, including those of three cabin crew, have been handed over to their families for performing last rites, while 22 are yet to be identified.

The DNA samples of the 22 badly charred bodies, which are yet to be identified, have been collected. Eight more bodies are lying at a hospital morgue whose claimants have not turned up, she said.

The DGCA, she said, has begun the investigation into the crash, the worst in the country in a decade.

Air India's Express flight from Dubai crashed at the Mangalore airport on Saturday leaving 158 dead.