KUALA LUMPUR – The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) and Malaysian government have agreed on a US$320,000 (RM1.3 mil) payout to compensate the family members of two victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
The payout, via a consent judgement and agreed to by the CAAM director and Putrajaya, will be given to the family members of Tan Ah Meng and Cindy Chuang.
According to the court filings, Cindy and Tan Ah Meng’s children, Tan Wei Hong and his underaged siblings, are the plaintiffs in a suit against Malaysia Airlines System Bhd, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, the CAAM director and the Malaysian government.
Meanwhile, Tan Ah Meng’s parents, Tan Hun Khong and Lai Chew Lai, were also named as plaintiffs, as well as Cindy’s Taiwanese mother, Chuang Hung Chien.
However, the consent judgement states that the payment will be made without admission of liability and is intended to be a conclusion to the suit.
A statement of claim filed by the plaintiffs in 2015 argued that the negligence of the defendants caused them losses.
“The plaintiffs, as dependents to the deceased, have experienced loss whereby they no longer received financial and non-financial benefits they are entitled to have if the deceased were alive.
“The plaintiffs pleaded that they were dependent wholly on Cindy Chuang and Tan Ah Meng,” reads the statement of claim.
Further, it was stated that Tan Ah Meng and Cindy each made around RM5.939 million annually.
In the 2015 document, the plaintiffs sought an open, unequivocal and unreserved apology from the defendants, as well as payment for loss of support, among other things.
Flight MH370 disappeared while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board on March 8, 2014.
It disappearance continues to baffle experts, and is regarded as one of the aviation industry's greatest mystery.
The last operation to find the aircraft ended in May 2018, when US-based exploration company Ocean Infinity failed to locate it after searching more than 112,000sq km of the ocean floor over three months. – The Vibes, May 13, 2021
