Missing airliner's status is final, minister says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa said Friday that the legal status of the missing Adam airliner's passengers and crew has been finalized.

Families of the deceased will now be able to start the insurance claims process.

"It is already final. The National Search and Rescue Agency has halted its search operations," he said.

He was quoted by Antara as saying that the agency had submitted its report to the government and Adam Air management on Tuesday.

Agency chairman Bambang Karnoyudho had said on Wednesday that the legal status of the victims was still unclear as no bodies had been recovered.

There were 96 passengers and 6 crew on board the Adam Air flight when it vanished en route from Surabaya to Manado.

Bambang said it was the responsibility of the government to set the final status of the victims, as his agency was only tasked with finding the wreckage.

The Indonesian government has received help from several countries, including the United States and Singapore, in locating the remains of the plane.

The flight data recorders were found by the USNS Mary Sears using a device called a towed pinger locator to detect their signals.

Hatta said that the victims' status had been finalized after he had visited with the families of the dead the area on the Majene Sea where the plane is believed to have crashed.

Separately, Adam Air CEO Gunawan Suherman confirmed that his company had received the agency's report, enabling all parties to start claiming insurance benefits.

The company has said it will provide Rp 500 million (US$55,555) in compensation to the next of kin of the victims. This comes on top of the Rp 50 million in insurance benefits being provided by the state-owned PT Jasa Raharja insurance company.

The crew's heirs will receive more compensation than those of passengers, although the amount has not been disclosed.