Beijing court opens hearings for relatives of MH370 passengers

A Beijing court held compensation hearings for Chinese relatives of MH370 passengers on Monday, Nov. 27. The flight disappeared in 2014, enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. More than 40 relatives are seeking compensation from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and Allianz.

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239 people were on board, including 154 Chinese nationals. Everyone on board was declared or presumed dead, and the flight was officially declared an accident by Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation on Jan. 29, 2015.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the flight, announced that the court hearings are starting Nov. 27, 2023, and they’re expected to continue into mid-December. 

“It has been 10 years that the court finally opened the case, which we think is a relief and a turning point,” Jiang told reporters. “But the deterioration of the living conditions of the families in the past 10 years, and the fact that many of the family members involved have died because of the lack of money to treat their illnesses, that does make us feel very sad.”

The court did not disclose case details, but plaintiffs are reportedly seeking up to $11.2 million each.

Malaysian investigators did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course. Debris believed to be from the MH370 aircraft has washed up along the African coast and on islands in the Indian Ocean in 2015.

Malaysia, China, and Australia concluded a two-year, $135.36 million underwater search in January 2017, yielding no trace of the plane.

The fate of the missing plane and passengers remains unknown after nearly a decade. Similar cases in the United States were dismissed and referred to the Malaysian legal system.