Plan to declare MH370 lost amid renewed search effort is confusing, say relatives

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 10 — The plan to declare the still missing Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 as lost come year end, is “agonising and confusing” say families of passengers onboard.

Voice370, the association for families of passengers and crew members of the plane, said that the news which comes amid phase two of the search for the missing jetliner only serves to makes families of the passengers lose hope in the effort.

Last week, the New Zealand Herald reported MAS commercial director Hugh Dunleavy saying that MH370 is to be declared lost officially, to enable compensation payouts to passengers’ families.

The daily also quoted Dunleavy urging the families to be patient as compensation details are being worked out.

"We don't have a final date but once we have an official loss recorded we can work with the next of kin on the full compensation payments for those families," Dunleavy was quoted saying in the New Zealand Herald.

The daily also reported that both the Australian and Malaysian governments were working together to set a date to formally announce the loss of MH370, likely to be set by the end of the year.

“Is Mr Dunleavy implying that the compensation is coming from the empty coffers of MAS?” asked Voice370.

The association also questioned the “agenda” behind Dunleavy’s statement, when the second phase of the search for the plane had just commenced.

“Is it not correct that the JACC and the Australian Government are taking the lead in the MH370 search effort in the Southern Indian Ocean, while the Malaysian Government is in charge of investigations?” the organisation said.

“They (JACC) have also assured us that all possible efforts will be exhausted before the search is called off.

“The next-of-kin are fully aware that the MAS Management has been trying to force a closure upon the families from the very beginning. We are left wondering whether the insurers have a hand in this forced closure agenda,” Voice370 asked.

MH370, with 227 passengers and 12 crew which was on its way to Beijing, China went off the radar an hour after departing from the KL International Airport in March.

On March 24, 17 days after the Boeing 777-200ER went missing, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced that Flight MH370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean.