A Beijing court ruled on Monday in the first-instance judgment on compensation claims by families of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 passengers, awarding 2.9 million yuan each to eight families. The flight disappeared in 2014 with 239 people on board. This decision forms part of long-running lawsuits seeking redress for the incident.
A Beijing court delivered its first-instance judgment on Monday regarding compensation lawsuits filed by families of passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, awarding each of eight families 2.9 million yuan ($409,813) in damages. The Boeing 777 vanished on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing Capital International Airport, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, totaling 239 people. About two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, with others from Malaysia, France, Australia, Indonesia, India, the United States, Ukraine, and Canada, among other nationalities.
On January 19, 2015, the Malaysian government officially declared the crash of Flight MH370 an accident and presumed all 239 on board deceased. In 2016, families of 75 missing passengers filed lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airlines Berhad, among other defendants, seeking compensation for losses, the establishment of a search and rescue fund, and other claims, resulting in 78 cases. During the trial, with multiple rounds of court-mediated mediation, families in 47 cases reached settlements with the defendants and withdrew their lawsuits. The current judgment pertains to eight cases involving eight passengers, all legally declared dead.
In accordance with the Montreal Convention and relevant Chinese laws, the court ordered Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airlines Berhad to compensate each passenger's family for death compensation, funeral expenses, mental anguish damages, and other losses and related costs, totaling over 2.9 million yuan per case. The remaining 23 cases involve families who have not yet applied for or completed the legal procedure to declare the passengers deceased, and these remain under judicial review.
Malaysia's transport ministry stated on Wednesday that the search for Flight MH370 will resume on December 30. Marine robotics company Ocean Infinity will conduct intermittent seabed search operations for a total of 55 days, in the targeted area with the highest probability of locating the aircraft, per the service agreement signed with the Malaysian government on March 25, 2025. The government remains committed to providing closure to the affected families.