Chinese court orders Malaysia Airlines to pay US$3.3 million in compensation over missing MH370 plane
More than 150 passengers on MH370 were Chinese nationals.
Visitors look at the wreckage of an aircraft believed to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 during a remembrance event in Subang Jaya, Malaysia, Mar 3, 2024. (File photo: Reuters/Hasnoor Hussain)
BEIJING: A Beijing court has ordered Malaysia Airlines to pay some families of missing passengers on board flight MH370 over 2.9 million yuan (US$410,240) per case in compensation, more than a decade after the plane vanished.
The rulings are for eight cases involving eight passengers.
The Chaoyang District People's Court said in a statement that 47 other lawsuits had been withdrawn, after the families settled outside of court with Malaysia Airlines and its international arm, Malaysia Airlines International.
Twenty-three cases are still under trial.
The court said that the compensation ruled on Friday was to cover funeral expenses, emotional distress and other losses.
Malaysia Airlines did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people vanished from radar screens on Mar 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has not been found.
Two-thirds of the passengers on the Boeing 777 plane were Chinese, while the others included Malaysians, Indonesians and Australians, as well as Indian, American, Dutch and French nationals.
Malaysia's transport ministry said earlier this month that the search for MH370 will resume on Dec 30.
The renewed search will go on for 55 days and be carried out in targeted areas "assessed to have the highest probability" of where the aircraft is located, said Malaysia's transport ministry, without giving the precise location.
