Asiana offers compensation to crash victims

Asiana Airlines offered the 288 surviving passengers of the flight that crash landed in San Francisco last month -- killing three -- $10,000 compensation.

Accepting the money does not prevent passengers from suing the airline, Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyomin said Tuesday.

"Regardless of the degree of the injury, we are offering $10,000 to everyone," Lee said. "There could be situations when the money is urgently needed and this could reduce inconveniences."

The Asiana Boeing 777 landed short of the runway on July 6, killing three passengers and injuring dozens of the 291 passengers on board.

Lee said Asiana already made payments to the families of three passengers who were killed, but could not comment on how much compensation they received.

A mother of one passenger said an Asiana manager contacted the family in Seoul by telephone last week offering them $10,000. The family declined because the offer was not made in writing, no explanation on conditions was given and they feared accepting the payment would bar lawsuits.

"We said no on the phone. We felt offended and didn't want to accept," said Jeong Ouek-yoon, mother of passenger Kim Ye-rim. "We didn't know whether there were conditions to the payment."

Multiple crash survivors and their families received a written offer, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap. The report said Asiana stipulated eight conditions, but the company declined to disclose them citing their possible impact on future lawsuits.

Al Jazeera and The Associated Press