18-11-2023 (BEIJING) A court in Beijing is set to open hearings for families who lost relatives on board the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a mysterious disappearance that occurred in 2014. This move marks a renewed effort and the latest development in China concerning the sensational case.
The defendants in this case include Malaysian airliners, airplane manufacturers, and insurance companies. Families of those who disappeared with the ill-fated flight may seek compensation, although their primary focus is on obtaining answers to the mystery.
Jiang Hui, a representative of the relatives, announced on Friday that nearly ten years after the accident, many family members in China, including himself, received the first formal court notice. The hearing, which involves a lawsuit between the family members and several companies, including Malaysia Airlines and Boeing, is scheduled to take place from November 27 to December 6 at the People’s Court of Chaoyang District, Beijing, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily.
This time, around 40 family members will have their cases heard by the court, Jiang said.
“Our main demands are, first of all, that the defendant will resume psychological assistance to the families of the missing on that flight as soon as possible and restore the liaison agency with the families. Second, according to the ‘Special Drawing Rights’ under the Montreal Convention, priority should be given to paying family members,” Jiang stated. He expressed hopes that the court hearing would provide family members with the support they deserve.
Additionally, Jiang hoped that the final judgment would require the perpetrators and those responsible to apologize, set up a search fund, and find the missing MH370 aircraft and its passengers.
Zhang Qihuai, a lawyer specializing in aviation cases, will continue to represent the families of missing passengers in China. While this court session addresses the same incident, each passenger is treated as an individual case, leading to separate hearings. Furthermore, the families’ primary request remains finding the passengers. For them, money is not the most important aspect, Zhang said, according to Xinhuanghe, an online news outlet.
The complexity of the incident, involving multiple international factors, makes it challenging for family members to defend their rights. Additionally, the situation remains relatively complex, and it has been almost 10 years since the flight vanished. Until now, questions about responsibility, the reason for lost contact, and the specific location of the plane remain unanswered.
In a notable development last year, a Boeing 777 component, known as a trunnion door, was found in the possession of a Madagascan fisherman. This discovery marked the first physical evidence suggesting that one of the pilots on the MH370 flight purposefully tried to destroy and sink the plane, as reported by Sky News.
In 2018, a detailed report on the disappearance of flight MH370, released by the Malaysian International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team, failed to determine the cause behind the mishap, leaving many questions unanswered due to a lack of evidence.
In 2014, a total of 239 people were on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, which vanished soon after take-off. Over 150 of the passengers onboard were Chinese nationals. Despite the passage of a decade, many families of missing Chinese passengers continue to push search efforts and seek justice through legal channels. In 2016, 36 cases were successfully registered at the Beijing Rail Transportation Court.
