AirAsia crash: Victims’ families to get £66,000 compensation

Some families had initially refused a lower amount

An Indonesian woman cries as she holds a candle during a vigil for the victims in Surabaya (EPA)

Families of the victims of the AirAsia crash are set to get around £66,000 ($100,000) compensation each, the airline has said.

Airline officials had initially offered families just under £16,000, an amount which some next of kin had refused.

A spokesperson for AirAsia told the CNN news channel that the airline would follow the Indonesian Transport Ministry's regulations on air crashes.

The country’s rules set compensation at 1.25 billion Indonesian rupiah for deaths caused by aviation accidents.

File: An AirAsia flight from Indonesia to Singapore has gone missing with a British national on board (AP)

In previous air accidents relatives have often secured larger compensation claims through the courts, an option which could be open to the families.

It is unclear whether the new offer includes a clause not to sue for additional compensation.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 from the Indonesian city of Surbaya to the city-state of Singapore crashed into the Java sea with 162 passengers and crew on board.

Salvage experts are exploring how to recover the plane’s black boxes, which are believed to be in the aircraft’s partially buried tail section.

The tail section was found on the ocean floor early this week and was confirmed yesterday.

It also emerged last weekend that the plane did not have the authorisation to fly the route it was taking between the two cities on the day it crashed, leading to a suspension of AirAsia services between the two cities.