MH370: Malaysia declares flight disappearance an accident

The Malaysian government has officially declared
the disappearance of Malaysian Airline flight
MH370 an accident and says there were no
survivors.
No trace of the Beijing-bound aircraft has been
found since it disappeared on 8 March 2014.
Officials say that the recovery operation is ongoing
but that the 239 people onboard are now
presumed dead.
The plane's whereabouts are still unknown despite
a massive international search in the southern
Indian Ocean.
The declaration on Thursday should allow
compensation payments to relatives of the victims.
'Deepest sorrow'
Malaysian officials added that the recovery of the
missing aircraft remained a priority and that they
had pursued "every credible lead".
Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) Director-
General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said that it was
"with the heaviest heart and deepest sorrow that
we officially declare Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
an accident.''
"All 239 of the passengers and crew onboard
MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives," he
said.
Following Thursday's announcement, China's
foreign ministry called for compensation for the
victims' families.
"We call on the Malaysian side to honour the
promise made when they declared the flight to
have been lost and earnestly fulfil their
compensation responsibilities," spokeswoman Hua
Chunying said in a statement.
The majority of the passengers on MH370 were
Chinese.
Declaring the missing plane an "accident" should
help unlock compensation payments for bereaved
relatives
Some families are angry with how the search has
been conducted
Malaysia airlines said they would be contacting the
families to proceed with the compensation
process.
But in China, some family members refused to
accept the official position that the plane was lost.
"They have found nothing," said Li Jingxin whose
brother is missing.
"With nothing found, how can they make any
announcement?''
He told the Associated Press news agency that his
family would not accept compensation from the
airline at this time.
Analysis: Richard Westcott, BBC News, transport
correspondent
You might reasonably assume that by declaring
the MH370 disappearance an "accident", the
Malaysians are ruling out any kind of foul play.
Unfortunately, they are doing nothing of the sort.
This is a legal move, we are told, to help the
families claim compensation.
This means we are no closer to finding out where
the plane is or how it got there.
Some of the families are angry at today's
declaration. They do not want a pay-out, because
they fear it will give the Malaysians an excuse to
give up the search.
Recently, I spoke to two, very experienced pilots
about flight MH370. One is convinced someone on
board crashed the aircraft on purpose. The other is
convinced it was an accident.
That sums it up really. We are coming up to a year
now. And we are no closer to getting any answers.
You can only imagine what it must be like for the
families.
'No evidence'
Four vessels are currently searching the seafloor
with specialised sonar technology in a remote
stretch of ocean where the plane is believed to
have ended its flight.
Mr Azharuddin added that Malaysia, China and
Australia have spared no expense in the hunt for
the plane.
Based on analysis of satellite and aircraft
performance data, MH370 is thought to be in seas
far west of the Australian city of Perth.
The vessels have so far searched an area of over
18,000km sq (11,185sq miles), according to
officials.
The search area involved also has known depths of
up to 6,000m (19,685ft).
Mr Azharuddin said that the progress of the safety
investigation into the accident would be released
soon, but that "at this juncture, there is no
evidence to substantiate any speculations as to the
cause of the accident".
The DCA said on Wednesday said that it planned to
release an interim report on the investigation on 7
March, a day before the first anniversary of the
disappearance.