Families of victims of the Dana air
crash need to produce letters of administration from the probate registry to
facilitate payment of the first 30 per cent of their compensation, the airline
said on Monday.

Chief Executive Officer, Dana Airline,
Mr. Jacky Hathiramani, stated this in a statement by the airline’s spokesman,
Mr. Tony Usidiamen.

Hathiramani noted that to date, letters
of administration had been produced by only a small number of claimants.

According to him, the letters also need
to be verified by the probate office which issued them.

He said, “Subject to verification, full
compensation will be paid to those properly entitled in accordance with the law
and available evidence, at the earliest opportunity.

“The present position is that 80 advance
payments of $30,000 have been processed by virtue of documents supplied,
demonstrating familial links and kinship.

“Our insurers are continuing to deal
with all other claims in accordance with the applicable law.”

The airline chief assured the families
that as soon as the letters were received and verified by the airline, they
would be paid the compensation.

Hathiramani said airline had no control
over the speed with which the probate office dealt with the verification
process, although maximum pressure was being exerted to expedite it.

He said the airline was following the
customary procedure in order to ensure that just compensation was only paid to
those entitled.

He was, however, silent on when the
airline’s insurance company would begin payment of the remaining 70 per cent of
the claims to the families.

Dana air flight from Abuja to Lagos
crashed on June 3 at Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, killing all 153 persons aboard and some
others on the ground.