Beijing court awards MH370 families compensation in landmark ruling

A court in Beijing delivered the first-instance judgment on Monday on the compensation claims lawsuits filed by some families of the missing passengers of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 — awarding eight families 2.9 million yuan ($409,813) each in damages.

The disappearance of MH370 occurred on March 8, 2014, when the Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing Capital International Airport in one of aviation's biggest mysteries. About two-thirds of the passengers on the flight were Chinese. There were also Malaysian, French, Australian, Indonesian, Indian, American, Ukrainian and Canadian nationals, among others, aboard the plane.

On Jan 19, 2015, the Malaysian government issued a statement officially declaring the crash of Flight MH370 an accident and presumed all 239 people on board deceased.

In 2016, the families of 75 missing passengers filed lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airlines Berhad among other defendants, seeking compensation for losses, the establishment of a search and rescue fund, and other claims, resulting in a total of 78 cases.

During the trial, with multiple rounds of mediation hosted by the court, the families of passengers in 47 cases reached settlements with the defendants and withdrew their lawsuits. The current judgment pertains to eight cases involving eight passengers, all of whom have been legally declared dead.

In accordance with the Montreal Convention and relevant Chinese laws, the court ordered Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airlines Berhad to compensate each passenger's family for death compensation, funeral expenses, mental anguish damages, and other losses and related costs, totaling over 2.9 million yuan per case.

The remaining 23 cases involve families who have not yet applied for or completed the legal procedure to declare the passengers deceased, and these cases remain under judicial review.

The search for Flight MH370 will resume on Dec 30, Malaysia's transport ministry said on Wednesday.

Marine robotics company Ocean Infinity will resume seabed search operations intermittently for a total of 55 days, the ministry said in a statement.

"The search will be carried out in the targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft, in accordance with the service agreement entered between the government of Malaysia and Ocean Infinity on March 25, 2025," it said, adding that the Malaysian government remains committed to providing closure to the affected families.