FRANKFURT: German re-insurance giant Munich Re and compatriot Hannover Re will be hit by claims for tens of millions of euros (dollars) following the crash of an Air France jet that killed 228 people, the companies said Wednesday.

Munich Re, one of the world's leading providers of insurance for other insurance companies, expects to take a charge in a "mid-double-digit-million US dollar" range, a spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires, a sum equivalent to about 35 million euros.

Hannover Re said it forecast costs of around 25 million euros in connection with the catastrophe.

Air France is to get 67.4 million euros from insurers following the loss of an Airbus A330 airliner that smashed into the Atlantic around 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off Brazil's northeast coast on June 1.

It was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board.

The cause of the disaster -- the worst in Air France's history -- is not known, nor is the cost of compensation that the airline will pay to relatives of the victims.

Air France is covered by insurance for those payments.