RELATIVES of Hong Kong victims of the March Aeroflot crash in Siberia were yesterday urged by the airline's insurers to accept $130,000 compensation.
''It is insulting - it is ridiculous,'' said Lantau widow Gina Newport, whose husband Mark was on Hong Kong-bound Aeroflot Su Flight 593 when it crashed, killing all 75 passengers and crew.
''They are trying to see if we will settle for a pittance and forget about everything. But, of course, we can't,'' she said.
Investigators believe the plane crashed after its captain, Yaroslav Kudrinsky, allowed his teenage son to take over the controls.
Official offers from lawyers acting for the Russian airline's insurers were received yesterday by some of the six Hong Kong families of victims.
One woman, whose husband was among those killed, reacted with disbelief when the offer arrived. Acceptance is conditional on relatives discontinuing any legal action against Aeroflot or its insurers and undertaking not to sue in future.
''The offer is very low and offensive to us. It is insulting to think that this is how much they place on the loss of a life,'' said the woman's sister.