27-11-2023 (BEIJING) A Beijing court commenced compensation hearings on Monday for the families of Chinese victims who tragically lost their lives on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared nearly a decade ago.
On March 8, 2014, the jet vanished while carrying 239 people, the majority of whom were from China, during its journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Despite extensive search efforts in a 120,000-square-kilometer (46,000-square-mile) area in the Indian Ocean, the largest aviation search operation in history led by Australia, hardly any trace of the plane was found, resulting in the suspension of the operation in January 2017.
Over the years, only fragments of debris have been discovered across the Indian Ocean.
Jiang Hui, whose mother was a passenger on flight MH370, recently announced on social media that the court hearings would commence on Monday at Beijing’s People’s Court in the Chaoyang district and continue until mid-December.
The China Daily, a state-run publication in Beijing, has also reported on the hearings, citing Jiang’s statement. However, the court hearing itself was not listed on the public website of the court.
On Monday morning, families of the victims, along with members of the media, gathered outside the court, as witnessed by AFP reporters.
In 2018, a private search for MH370 was launched by a US exploration firm, but it was ultimately unsuccessful after several months of scouring the seabed.
The disappearance of the plane has given rise to numerous theories, ranging from plausible to far-fetched. Some theories even suggest that the experienced pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, had deliberately diverted the aircraft.
In 2016, Malaysian officials disclosed that the pilot had simulated a flight path over the Indian Ocean on a home flight simulator. However, they emphasized that this alone did not prove his intention to crash the plane.
The final report issued in 2018 regarding the tragedy pointed to air traffic control failures and manual changes made to the course of the plane. However, the report did not provide any definitive conclusions, leaving grieving relatives frustrated and disappointed.
