Liow advises next-of-kins to file claims before March 8

PUTRAJAYA: Families and next- of-kin of passengers of the vanished Malaysia Airlines ( MAS) Flight MH370, regardless of nationality, have been advised to file claims under the Montreal Convention against MAS by March 8 to preserve their legal rights.

In a statement yesterday, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the Malaysian Government was ever conscious that the families and next- ofkin of the passengers and crew of MH370 needed to be accorded legitimate rights as provided under the relevant international instruments and domestic laws.

According to Article 35 of the 1999 Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air ( Montreal Convention), the right to damages against MAS shall be extinguished if an action is not brought within a period of two years from the date on which the aircraft ought to have arrived in Beijing, that is on March 8, 2014, he said.

As previously stated by MAS, he said, the limitation period under the Montreal Convention ended on March 8, 2016.

“This right to claim damages under the Montreal Convention is available to the families and nextof-kin of the passengers of MH370,” he said.

As the second anniversary of the aircraft disappearance approaches, Liow said he was informed by MAS that fewer than 60 compensation claims had been settled in relation to the 227 passengers and 12 crew on board the flight, whereas to date, 169 families had commenced final compensation process. — Bernama