Flydubai has announced that it will pay $20,000 to the families of each of the 55 passengers who died after a Boeing 737 jet operated by the airline crashed in Russia on Saturday.
In a statement, the airline said: “At present, our priority is to identify and contact the families of those lost in today’s tragic accident and provide immediate support to those affected.
“Flydubai will additionally organise a programme of hardship payments to the families amounting to $20,000 per passenger, in accordance with our Conditions of Carriage with the aim of addressing immediate financial needs."
The airline also confirmed that the black box recorders have been found.
“We are aware of the reports that are circulating in relation to the black box flight recorders. We can confirm that both black box flight recorders have been recovered from the crash site by the local accident investigation team and we continue to do all we can to assist their work.”
There were 62 people on board the jet including 55 passengers and seven crew members. The group consisted of 44 Russians, eight Ukrainians, two Indians and one Uzbekistani.
Flydubai said the passengers were 33 women, 18 men and four children.
Flight FZ981 departed from Dubai International at 18:20 GMT and the crash occurred in Rostov-on-Don at approximately 00:50 GMT. While investigations are still on, experts have said that bad weather is most likely to blame for the accident.
Flydubai chief executive Ghaith Al Ghaith said the airline was working with authorities to investigate the crash.
“I am personally leading our accident response with the support of the full management team. At this stage the focus of our efforts is on establishing the facts around the incident and providing all possible support to the authorities.
“On behalf of everyone at flydubai, I would like to express the devastation we all feel... Our primary concern is for the passengers and crew involved at this tragic time. Everyone in our company is in deep shock and our hearts go out to all the loved ones of those involved,” he added.
