Chartis Underwrote Travel Insurance for Hong Kong Victims in Manila Bus Hijack

Chartis Inc., a nonlife subsidiary of American International Group Inc., underwrote travel insurance for some of the Hong Kong victims in the bus hijack incident in Manila, the Philippines, which resulted in eight deaths and seven injured among a Hong Kong tour group.

The maximum insurance coverage for those who died was raised to HK$1 million (US$129,000) from the standard HK$500,000 in the travel plan underwritten by Chartis for some of the victims, according to Hong Thai Travel Services Ltd., organizer of the hijacked tour group.

The coverage amount was lifted as the insurance company took into special consideration the hostage situation as an accident involving public transportation, said Hong Thai in a statement. Also, the travel agency has an additional HK$300,000 in casualty insurance coverage.

As for the injured, the highest amount of insurance benefits for medical coverage is HK$1 million, and post-medical treatment coverage in Hong Kong for the next six months will be a maximum of HK$100,000.

The hostage crisis in Manila, which involved a 21-member Hong Kong tour group, ended with eight hostages dead and several others injured, one of whom is in critical condition. The tour bus was hijacked by a former police officer, who held the tourists hostage for 11 hours in a car park at Luneta Park in central Manila on Aug. 23. Philippines police raided the bus in an effort to end the stand-off.

(By Iris Lai, Hong Kong bureau manager: [email protected])