By Gaurav Raghuvanshi And Jason Ng
Malaysia on Thursday formally declared that the disappearance of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was an accident and all 239 people on
board are presumed dead, a step intended to help victims' families
process compensation claims.
The search for the Boeing Co. 777-200ER jet that disappeared on
March 8, 2014 while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur will
continue, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the director general of the
Department of Civil Aviation of Malaysia said. Australia is
overseeing the search by private contractors.
"Malaysia is committed to continue all reasonable efforts to
bring closure to this unfortunate tragedy, with the continuing
cooperation and assistance of the governments of China and
Australia," Mr. Azharuddin said.
The declaration was made to satisfy legal requirements for the
relatives of the victims so they can gain access to loved ones'
bank accounts, said Martin Eran-Tasker, technical director at the
Association of Asia Pacific Airlines.
"This is more for lawyers and courts, not for the families as
they are going to accept none of this till there's evidence," said
Mr. Eran-Tasker.
Malaysia expects to release an interim statement detailing the
progress of the safety investigation on or around the one-year
anniversary of the disappearance, Mr. Azharuddin added.
Write to Gaurav Raghuvanshi at gaurav.raghuvanshi@wsj.com and
Jason Ng at jason.ng@wsj.com
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