THE husband of one of the Airlines PNG crash victims wants a body formed to support the relatives of the 28 people who died, The National reports.
Reginald Renagi was in Madang last weekend to gauge support on establishing an air crash victims support group.
Renagi says after visiting the crash site, he realised that the impact of the crash was something that relatives would have to come to grips with.
He believed that the support group should be able to address that problem.
“The main reason, apart from coming here to console my son, is to make sure that a vocal group with the right political backing can ensure that standard aviation procedures in regards to safety in the aviation industry are followed stringently,” he said.
“The current compensation package offered by Air Niugini for K30,000 and Airlines PNG of a lesser amount, is laughable.
“We are talking about the permanent loss and psychological scarring which will live with us forever,” he said.
Renagi said the issue of compensating the 28 families should start from K1 million.
He said the group should garner support and push for a private members Bill to make air travel safe in PNG.
He thanked Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his government for making available K500,000 for the repatriation of the grieving families.
He also thanked Divine Word University president  and chairman of Modilon General Hospital Fr Jan Czuba for providing counselling and other support during the mourning period for the families.
“I can see that the Madang provincial government has been so quiet about even sending a condolence message for the affected students, or providing any financial support since it happened in their province.
“Most of the families have travelled to Madang at their own expense and do not even know where to go.
“The Madang provincial government does not even have a task force in place nor does Airlines PNG have any emergency toll free numbers where relatives of the victims can turn to for guidance,” he said.