Victims' families threaten lawsuit over fatal air crash

Relatives of five Hong Kong people killed in a Vietnam Airlines crash have branded the company irresponsible and threatened legal action to secure compensation.

Victims' families gathered outside the airlines' office in Admiralty yesterday and accused the company of reneging on compensation promises. They handed a petition to airline general manager, who declined to answer questions.

Five Hong Kong residents and a Macau man were killed when the Vietnam Airlines plane carrying 66 passengers from Hong Kong to Cambodia crashed near Phnom Penh on September 3, 1997. The airline originally offered to pay each victim's family US$150,000 (HK$1.17 million), but now says it will pay US$65,000. Airline bosses withdrew from a planned meeting with relatives yesterday after taking legal advice.

The families' anger was compounded when they discovered the airline planned to pay the family of an Australian victim US$150,000 (HK$1.17 million) last year when threatened with court action.

'We don't care about the money. No matter how much, it cannot heal the trauma left. But this is showing disrespect to the deceased. Are their lives less valuable than other people?' the relatives' representative, Li Yiu-leung, said.

The relatives believe the airline is trying to delay the matter until September 3, after which they will lose their rights to compensation under the Warsaw Convention.