The Malaysian government declared on Thursday, Jan. 29 that the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 last March was an accident, according to the terms of an international air agreement, and that the 239 passengers and crew members aboard the plane were presumed dead.
The official declaration by Malaysia’s Department of Civil Aviation should clear the way for the compensation process, as well as issuing official death certificates, to proceed for the families of the victims. Litigation over the exact compensation amount could continue for years.
“Without in any way intending to diminish the feelings of the families, it is hoped that this declaration will enable the families to obtain the assistance they need, in particular through the compensation process,” said Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of the civil aviation department, in a statement.
Malaysian officials said last spring that the plane appeared to have been missing since March 8, 2014. The government has assured that “the families of the passengers and crew that the search for MH370 remains a priority.”
The Australian government, which is coordinating a search by four vessels on the sea floor in the southern Indian Ocean, said that efforts to find debris from the possible plane crash would continue. The chief coordinator noted the operation may take until April to finish searching the ocean area being targeted.
“Australia, Malaysia, and China remain committed to the search,” the government said in a statement. “We remain cautiously optimistic the aircraft will be found.”
MH 370 departed from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, and its communications systems were disabled as it reached an area over the Gulf of Thailand at 1:21pm Malaysian time. The plane, a Boeing 777, is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia. The sea there has known depths of more than 19,600 feet, according to officials.
Multinational search teams have combed nearly 1.8 million square miles of ocean, and the area is still being searched. The hunt resumed in October after a four-month hiatus with more sophisticated sonar equipment, and search teams have pursued every credible lead and all available data, but have yet to find any evidence of the missing aircraft.
“Based on the same data, we have concluded that the aircraft exhausted its fuel over a defined area of the southern Indian Ocean, and that the aircraft is located on the sea floor close to that defined area,” said Rahman.
Speculation about the cause of the aircraft’s disappearance includes possibilities of a rogue pilot who diverted the flight, a hijacking attack, or that there was a fire on board. Rahman cautioned that without the flight recorders, “there is no evidence to substantiate any speculations as to the cause of the accident.”
Relatives of the passengers, many of whom cling to hope that their loved ones are still alive, reacted with disbelief and anger to the Malaysian government’s announcement, believing it was a “conspiracy” and that they are hiding something.
“I waited for a whole year, but this is not the answer I want to hear. There is no evidence at all, how could they draw such a conclusion?” said Li Xinmao, 57, whose daughter was on the flight. “I won’t accept any compensation because they are hiding the truth. I can’t accept it.”
Rahman stressed in his statement that the declaration of the plane’s disappearance as an accident is “by no means the end.”
“We will forge ahead with the cooperation and assistance from other countries,” he said. “MH370, its passengers and its crew will always be remembered and honored.”
(With reports from Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today)
