THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, August 27, 1994              TAG: 9408270208
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                         LENGTH: Medium:   53 lines

U.S. PAYS COMPENSATION FOR COPTER ACCIDENT THE FAMILIES OF THE 11 FOREIGNERS KILLED IN THE ATTACK WILL RECEIVE $100,000 EACH.

The U.S. government is making $100,000 payments to each of the families of the 11 foreign nationals who were killed in the mistaken downing of two U.S. Army helicopters in northern Iraq.

Most of the survivors of the U.S. military personnel killed will receive insurance benefits of $200,000 .

A Pentagon statement said Defense Secretary William Perry decided to make the payments to families of the 11 foreign nationals ``in recognition of the unique circumstances related to the aircraft accident.''

Pentagon spokesman Air Force Maj. Tom LaRoque said such payments are extremely rare, noting they are not required by law.

``They are a humanitarian gesture made solely at the discretion of the secretary of defense,'' he said.

The Pentagon earlier released a report on the April 14 incident that found the pilots of two U.S. F-15s had misidentified the helicopters as Iraqi and that crews on an AWACS observation plane had failed to tell the pilots the copters were friendly.

The report also cited a catastrophic ``breakdown of command guidance and supervision'' that contributed to the incident. In all, 26 people aboard the two craft were killed when the helicopters were shot down by the F-15s, which were patrolling a restricted zone over Iraq.

Payments of $100,000 will go the families of the six British, Turkish and French military members killed in the incident.

Additionally, the families of five Kurdish workers employed by the U.S. government who also were on the aircraft will receive a death benefit from the Department of Labor in the range of $20,000 to $30,000, LaRoque said. The Pentagon will augment that sum to bring their payments up to the $100,000 level, the spokesman said.

Family members of the U.S. military personnel on board the aircraft were eligible for an automatic $100,000 group life insurance payment, the spokesman said, and all but one had contributed to become eligible for a $200,000 payment.

As well, they received allowances for burial costs, housing payments for up to 90 days, an immediate $6,000 death gratuity, and other types of death benefits, the spokesman said.

KEYWORDS: IRAQ MILITARY ACCIDENT U.S. ARMY

by CNB