The US federal government announced Tuesday that it had completed the task of establishing an open-ended compensation fund for the relatives of Sept. 11, 2001 victims and that it would end up paying more than 5,000 families over US$6 billion.  

The office of the fund's administrator, Kenneth Feinberg, said that 2,877 families, or more than 97 percent of a total pool of 2,973 eligible families, had received, or were about to receive, compensation on behalf of dead victims.

The compensation averaged almost US$2.1 million per family, with the lowest individual payment of US$250,000, and the highest US$7.1 million.

An additional 2,675 people who filed injury claims -- or more than half of the 4,430 who applied -- were also to be compensated, with 1,919 of them being rescue workers at ground zero or the Pentagon. That range stretched from US$500 to US$8.6 million.

In all, Feinberg said the government would spend between US$6.5 billion and US$6.8 billion on the fund.

Congress created the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund on Sept. 22 2001 as part of an airline bailout package. After a slow start in persuading families to join, the fund absorbed a surge of applicants near the filing deadline of Dec. 22, 2003.

The fund is meant to finish processing claims by midnight Tuesday and give final figures on the compensation on Wednesday. Feinberg said all final payments should be made within six-to-eight weeks.

(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2004)