Accident Insurance Compensation after the Wenzhou Train Collision

The rear-collision of the bullet trains near Wenzhou City has been a tragedy for the families who lost relatives. The accident has once again promoted public discussion about the role of accident issuance. What kinds of compensation can these victims and their families receive at this moment, and what kinds of insurance are suitable and economical for travelers?

Let's take a closer look with our reporter Liu Min.

Few train travelers in China know that the price of the train ticket includes the accident insurance for the trip. Professor Wang Xujin from the Beijing Technology and Business University specializes in insurance research. He explains the insurance compensation provided by the railway industry for passengers.

"According to the related laws and regulations, victims in this accident can receive 150-thousand yuan worth of compensation in most cases, and the railway department should compensate the loss of the passengers' luggage up to the value of 2000 yuan.

If the passenger bought additional personal accident insurance from the insurance companies, then he or she could receive an extra compensation from the insurance company."

The major insurance companies in China have already launched emergency compensation programs. They've dispatched specialized teams to the city of Wenzhou to collect information about those who died or were injured in the accidents. Manager Zhu Min from Xinhua Insurance Company says they are still searching for their customers among the victims.

"We've already got a list of victims and injured passengers from the local hospital. We discovered that one of these passengers was our customer, and we are still trying to see whether there are other customers receiving treatment in other hospitals in the city so that we can provide compensation as soon as possible."

Insurance experts say that the compensation amount a customer can receive depends on the initial contract between the insurance buyer and the insurance company. For example, if the maximum amount is one million yuan for train accidents which caused death, then the compensation would be one million yuan for the killed passenger. But if the insurance buyer bought twice the amount of insurance, then the beneficiary can receive twice as much compensation.

Many insurance companies have found that the ID shown on the tickets sometimes doesn't match the identities of the victims or injured passengers. This has caused difficulties during the verification process. Manager Wang Yijie from China Life Insurance Company explains they are trying to verify the real identity of those still missing.

"How can such a situation occur? Well, for example, someone might go to buy the tickets using their personal ID, but they may not be the passenger. In these cases we still work hard to verify whether or not they are our customers and process their compensation claims quickly."

Experts say there are numerous choices on the market when it comes to accident insurance. As an example, short-term accident insurance is more economical for those who travel within a short period of time. For example, a 30-day travel insurance policy costs only 45 yuan and provides coverage of up to 600-thousand yuan for air travel, 150 thousand yuan for travel by rail and ship, and 100-thousand yuan for car accidents. But short-term policies do not cover high-risk activities such as bungee jumping, rock climbing or scuba diving.

For CRI, I'm Liu Min.