BERLIN (AP) – Lufthansa on Tuesday offered financial compensation to relatives of people killed in the Germanwings crash three months ago – a proposal that a lawyer representing many German families immediately described as inadequate.
Lufthansa, which owns Germanwings, is offering 25,000 euros ($27,740) in compensation per victim in all cases that fall under German law, plus payments of 10,000 euros each to immediate relatives. It wasn’t immediately clear what compensation people claiming in other jurisdictions might expect, or how many people would fall under German regulations.
The airline said it also plans to set aside up to 7.8 million euros to support education for children who lost one or both parents, plus a 6 million euro fund that would provide “individual support for aid projects of the relatives.” Money from that fund would be disbursed by a board of trustees that the company plans to set up in the coming months.
German lawyer Elmar Giemulla, who represents about 30 families of victims, described the offer as “completely inadequate.”
Prosecutors believe the Airbus A320 was intentionally crashed into a French mountain by co-pilot Andreas Lubitz on March 24, killing all 150 people on board the flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.