More MH370 kin sue MAS as deadline closes

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The next-of-kin of two Ukrainian passengers aboard Flight MH370 have filed a suit for damages from Malaysia Airlines (MAS) at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

In two separate filings made through the law firm Ranjit Singh & Yeoh, the next-of-kin alleged that the passengers have been presumed dead and that MAS was liable for their deaths under the Carriage by Air Act 1974 and/or the Civil Law Act 1956.

This is in view of, among others, the fact that the aircraft has yet to be found two years after it went missing and the Malaysian government's declaration that all 239 persons on board are presumed dead.

In the circumstances, the plaintiffs have suffered loss and damage (in the form of) loss of financial support, bereavement, and funeral expenses […]

By reason of Article 17 of the sixth schedule of the CAA, the defendant is liable to the plaintiffs for the plaintiffs' loss and damage aforesaid,” read the two nearly identical statements of claim.

The deceased are Sergii Grygorovych Deineka and Oleg Volodymyrovych Chustrak, both 44 years old when MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014.

The next-of-kin suing over Deineka's death are his widow, daughter, mother, and father, while Chustrak's widow, an adult son, and two minors are suing over his.

They are claiming for an unspecified amount for general and special damages, bereavement, interest and legal costs, as well as any other relief the court saw fit.

Under the Montreal Convention 1998, such a lawsuit must be filed within two years after an aircraft's scheduled arrival, meaning that this coming Tuesday is the last day to file such claims.

MH370 took off on March 7, 2014 and was supposed to arrive in Beijing the next morning but instead went missing.

A deep sea search of the Indian Ocean is still ongoing currently involving four vessels. It has scoured 85,000 square kilometres out of the 120,000-square kilometre search area thus far.

The search is scheduled for completion in the middle of this year and there are no plans to expand the search area for a second time unless more clues of MH370's whereabouts emerge.

Unlikely search will continue

In the event the aircraft is found and is accessible, Australia, Malaysia, and China have agreed to plans for recovery activities, including securing all the evidence necessary for the accident investigation,” the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) reiterated in a weekly update of the search.

The Australia-based JACC is coordinating the multinational search effort.

As the deadline to file claims draws close, several lawsuits have been filed against MAS in recent weeks.

Last week, a Malaysian family filed a RM32 million suit for the death of S Puspanathan and also named the Malaysian department of civil aviation, the immigration department, Malaysia Airports Bhd, the Royal Malaysian Air Force, and the Malaysian government as defendants.

Meanwhile, in the US, two brothers of a US passenger similarly filed a suit against MAS in January.



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