Madrid Spanair crash victim’s family awarded €340,000

RELATIVES of a passenger who died when a Spanair plane crashed in Madrid in 2008, killing 154 people, have been awarded €340,000 in damages.

Although many victims’ relatives reached agreements with the airline’s insurance company outside court, this is the first time a judge has awarded damages to a passenger’s family.

The amount more than doubles what the airline’s insurance company had offered the 21-year-old passenger’s parents and sister but is nowhere near the €2.7 million they had asked for.

To calculate the amount, the Barcelona court judge took traffic accident compensation regulations and insurance laws into account.

The judge himself complained that there were no regulations to help calculate the damage caused by air accidents.

Francisco Vasques Tenreiro, the family’s lawyer, declared that they have yet to decide whether to appeal.

The lawyer said that although it is not what the family had asked for, it is more than double what the insurance company had offered which could encourage other victims’ families to keep on fighting.