KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Declaring Flight MH370 as an “accident” will help the family members of the 239 on board to move on with their lives and get payouts, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has said.
Liow was referring to Putrajaya’s January 29 official declaration of loss with all on the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight presumed dead — an announcement rejected by MH370 kin who point out that no evidence has been found in an ongoing search.
“What we can do for the future — I think that’s important — is that we have announced that MH370 is an accident.
“This will help the family members to move forward and help solve several matters such as insurance etc,” Liow was quoted saying in an interview with Astro Awani that was broadcast on the satellite channel this morning and later published on its website.
He added that Putrajaya had taken care of their welfare and ordered MAS to speed up compensation payouts.
Liow insisted that MH370 kin’s welfare is being given priority, pointing out that a committee and websites providing the latest information had been set up.
He also highlighted a support centre in Beijing for the families of the 153 Chinese passengers who formed the bulk of the passengers.
Liow said he is saddened over the MH370 tragedy and always prayed for the flight’s next of kin to “remain strong” during difficult times.
The minister said his biggest challenge was asked for answers about MH370 despite a continued search for answers.
“I am facing a big challenge because the family members come to me to get answers. When family members come to me for answers, I am still looking for the answers. And that is why the objective of this search mission, is to get answers,” he said, having reaffirmed that the search will go on.
“To allow me to give you the best possible answer, I need the strength to perform a search mission. We are with the family members. We understand the feelings, the pain and sadness that they are facing right now and how we can assist them in facing the future,” he added.
Over 40 per cent of the 60,000 square kilometres of the priority search area in the southern Indian Ocean has been scoured.
But no debris or wreckage from MH370 has been found to date in this phase of the undersea search that is to end in May.
