Families of Malaysia Airlines crash victims call for new search

Relatives of dozens of Chinese passengers killed in the Malaysia Airlines plane disappearance nearly a decade ago called for a new investigation on Monday as a Beijing court began hearing a new suit seeking compensation.

The MH370 passenger plane disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people (mostly Chinese) on board.

More than 40 families have filed lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines, aircraft maker Boeing, engine maker Rolls-Royce and Allianz Insurance Group, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Lawyer Zhang Qihuai, quoted by CCTV, said the family’s legal demands focused on compensation and finding out the truth behind the plane’s disappearance.

Few traces of the plane were found in a 120,000 square kilometer (46,000 square mile) search area in the Indian Ocean, with only some debris picked up.

The Australian-led flight, the largest in aviation history, was canceled in January 2017.

The families released an open letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday, calling for a new search for the missing aircraft to be carried out “without discovery and without charge.”

“Our family prefers to search for flight MH370 on their own,” the letter said. “The family is willing to invest their own funds or work with talented individuals and companies.” he added.

They called for “effective communication” with the Malaysian government to start a new hunt.

Outside the courtroom, many relatives wept as they told the stories of their loved ones, some holding papers that read “Resuming the search” and “Open, fair, impartial.”

Bao Lanfang lost her son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter in the disaster, and her husband also passed away last year.

“Personally, I don’t care about financial compensation,” the 71-year-old told the media.

“What I want is for Malaysia Airlines to tell us the truth. What happened to our loved ones?

“What I want now is to restart the search and investigation.”

Both Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport and Malaysia Airlines declined to comment on the hearing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday that the Chinese government “places great importance on the follow-up investigation” into the disappearance of Flight MH370 and “expects all parties concerned to continue to maintain close communication.” said.

– “Intolerable” –
The jurisdiction of Chinese courts to enforce compensation claims against defendants is unclear.

CCTV reported that each family will receive civil compensation of 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) to 80 million yuan ($11.2 million), and 30 million yuan ($4.2 million) to 40 million yuan ($5.6 million) in damages. The company sought compensation for damages.

According to the broadcaster, the families of more than 110 other passengers have already reached a settlement with the defendants and received between 2.5 million and 3 million yuan.

Relatives gathered outside the courtroom on Monday despite subzero temperatures and were eager to chat with journalists.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on board MH370, said the opening of the hearing was “very encouraging and a turning point.”

“It is really sad for us that our relatives have survived and their living conditions have deteriorated over the past 10 years. Therefore, we hope that legal remedies will be realized as soon as possible. It is not difficult. ” he said.

“The last 10 years have been really unbearable for us,” Jiang added.

The details of the hearing were not posted on the court’s public website, but Jiang wrote on social media earlier this month that the court hearing would continue until mid-December.

～Unsolved mystery～
A U.S. exploration company began a private search for MH370 in 2018, but months of undersea exploration ended without success.

The plane’s disappearance has long been the subject of a variety of theories, ranging from the plausible to the far-fetched, including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah went rogue.

In 2016, Malaysian authorities revealed that the pilot had charted a route over the Indian Ocean on his home flight simulator, but stressed that this did not prove he intentionally crashed the plane.

The final report on the tragedy, released in 2018, cited failures in air traffic control and said the plane’s course had been manually redirected.

However, they were unable to reach a firm conclusion, leaving relatives angry and disappointed.

Source: guardian.ng