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January 30, 2015

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Flight MH370 declared an accident to clear the way for compensation

Source: Agencies | January 30, 2015, Friday | Print Edition

MALAYSIA declared the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 an accident yesterday, clearing the way for the airline to pay compensation to victims’ relatives while the search for the plane goes on.

The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared on March 8 last year, carrying 239 passengers and crew shortly after taking off from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing.

Months of searches have failed to turn up any trace of the aircraft.

“We officially declare Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident ... and that all 239 of the passengers and crew onboard MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives,” Department of Civil Aviation director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said in a statement.

The announcement is in accordance with standards of annexes 12 and 13 in the International Civil Aviation, said Azharuddin. It will allow families of the passengers to obtain assistance through compensation, he said.

Malaysia Airlines was ready to proceed immediately with the compensation process to the next-of-kin of the passengers on the flight, he said.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said: “We hope the Malaysian side honors its promises and fully investigates the incident, settling claims and making peace with the families, especially continuing to make all efforts to find the missing plane and its passengers,” Li said.

Most of the passengers on the plane were from China.

International investigators are looking into why the Boeing jet veered thousands of miles off course from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean.

The search in the Indian Ocean is still going on and Malaysia is also conducting a criminal investigation, Azharuddin said.

“Both investigations are limited by the lack of physical evidence at this time, particularly the flight recorders,” he said. “Therefore, at this juncture, there is no evidence to substantiate any speculation as to the cause of the accident.”

Malaysia said that it, China and Australia remained firmly committed to the search.

“This declaration is by no means the end,” said Azharuddin.

The DCA plans to release an interim report on the investigation on March 7, a day before the first anniversary of the disappearance, a minister said earlier this week.

The Malaysia airline’s crisis worsened on July 17 when flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

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