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.