KUALA LUMPUR // Malaysia formally declared missing flight MH370 an accident and its passengers and crew presumed dead on Thursday – a step that opens the door for compensation payments but was met with skepticism by distraught relatives.
“It is therefore, with the heaviest heart and deepest sorrow that, on behalf of the government of Malaysia, we officially declare Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident,” civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said in a televised announcement.
“All 239 of the passengers and crew on board MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives,” he said. More than 150 of those on board were from China.
Mr Azharuddin said the official decision that the plane’s disappearance on March 8 was an accident would allow families to move on and receive payments from the airlines.
“It is hoped that this declaration will enable families to obtain the assistance they need, in particular through the compensations process,” he said.
But Sarah Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on board the plane, poured scorn on the announcement.
“I think they are lying,” she said.
“It could very well be that the plane crashed. But there is no evidence, and until there is evidence we just can’t believe them,” she said, referring to the Malaysian government and airline.
“It is impossible to bring any closure until we have proof.”
Earlier this week, Chinese families said they are opposed to any move to declare MH370 as missing and signed a petition against such a plan, according to a letter relatives of those on board the aircraft wrote to the carrier. The plane had 227 passengers and 12 crew, two-thirds of them from China.
“We are prepared for any eventuality, including the fact that our loved ones may never come back,” it said. “However, almost all families are unanimous in our stand that we do not want to declare our loved ones dead, without a shred of evidence.”
Some relatives accuse the Malaysian government and its flag carrier of a chaotic and bungled response to the plane’s initial diversion, which allowed the jet to disappear, and a subsequent cover-up.
Kuala Lumpur and Malaysia Airlines deny these charges.
MH370 vanished on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in what remains one of history’s great aviation mysteries.
Malaysian authorities say satellite data indicates the plane inexplicably detoured to the remote southern Indian Ocean, which they suspect was due to “deliberate” action on-board.
But no firm evidence has turned up yet, despite an ongoing Australian-led search of the supposed crash region – the most expensive search and rescue operation in history.
According to the Chicago Convention rules of international civil aviation, the definition of the term “accident” includes “the aircraft is missing,” Mr Azharuddin said.
It also states that “an aircraft is considered to be missing when the official search has been terminated and the wreckage has not been located.”
Malaysia airline’s crisis worsened on July 17 when its Flight MH17, on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board
The country’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has taken the airline private and is restructuring the flag carrier as traffic fell after the carrier lost MH370 and MH17. The two accidents killed a combined 537 people.
* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting from Bloomberg