Crash compo. offered

Press, 19 July 1989, Page 10

Crash compo. offered

NZPA-Reuter Washington The United States said yesterday it has offered a total of about SNZSI million to families of the 290 passengers and crew killed when the warship USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner in the Gulf last year.

The United States is offering $NZ430,000 to the families of each wageearner killed and SNZI7O,OOO for each other passenger. United States officials said. The United States President, George Bush, ap : proved the figures and

relatives can either accept the offer or sue for more. There will be no negotiations on the amounts, a senior United States official said. A State Department deputy spokesman, Richard Boucher, said he expected five of the governments whose nationals were killed to accept the offer but payments to relatives of 250 Iranian victims would be delayed until an appropriate intermediary was found to distribute the money. This could include a charitable organisation or insurance

company. The United States maintained that it has no obligation under international law to compensate the families of victims of the July 3, 1988, tragedy. Three days after the incident, the then-President, Ronald Reagan, said the United States would make payments for humanitarian reasons. A Defence Department report later found that a series of human errors led the guided-missile cruiser to mistake the Iranian Air Airbus A3OO for a jet fighter.