Ill-fated RI plane insured for $26.5m

Ill-fated RI plane insured for $26.5m

LONDON (Reuter): An Indonesian DC-10 aircraft which caught fire yesterday after failing to take off from Fukuoka airport in Japan was insured for $26.5 million, London insurance market sources told Reuters.

The hull insurance was placed by brokers Willis Corroon and Nicholson Lesley, a part of Aon Corp, with Frances La Reunion Aerienne the lead underwriter, the sources added.

The aircraft was built in 1979, sources in the Lloyds of London insurance market said, although they were unable to say at this stage how much of the risk was insured at Lloyds.

Garuda Indonesia GI.CN Airways officials said 261 passengers and 15 crew members were aboard the jet when it caught fire on empty ground shortly past noon. The passengers included many Japanese on group tours.

Flight 865 was bound from Fukuoka for Jakarta via Denpasar on the Indonesian island of Bali. The fire gutted sections near the main wings and toward the rear part of the fuselage, according to the Transport Ministry. A big hole was bored in the central part of the fuselage.

The weather was slightly cloudy with the range of visibility favorable at some 25 kilometers when the accident occurred, according to the Fukuoka District Meteorological Observatory.

The number of serious aircraft accidents so far this year has been lower than in recent years with the exception of 1995, Barry Wilkes, chairman of the London based Aviation Insurers Offices Association told Reuters.

From a market point of view, its as good a year as last year, Wilkes said, adding that on current information the Garuda accident was unlikely to have very much impact on aviation insurance rates.

Serious aviation accidents this year include a Boeing 757 crash off the Dominican Republic in March, a Boeing 737 operated by Faucett Airlines which crashed in Peru, also in March, and the Valujet DC-9 crash in May near Miami.