MH370 Case to Head to Trial in Beijing Tomorrow

The case of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is set to go to trial in Beijing this month per a hearing notice from the Chaoyang District People’s Court, according to Beijing Traffic Radio. Families of passengers lost on the flight have taken legal action against five defendants, including Malaysia Airlines, with the trial set to commence on Nov 27.

The affected families initiated legal action against the defendants in November 2017, demanding compensation ranging from a minimum of RMB 14 million to a maximum of RMB 77 million, according to the report.

Flight MH370 disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March 2014, having deviated from a flight path from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing’s Capital International Airport. After a year of searching for any remains of the flight to no result, the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation declared all 239 passengers and crew presumably deceased.

Despite the investigation having been called off in 2017, and a report released by the Malaysian government in 2019 pointing to a mass hypoxia (lack of oxygen) event as the answer to MH370’s demise, the disappearance is still viewed as a mystery to many.

Of the 227 passengers on board, 153 were Chinese nationals, many hailing from the capital. The rest comprised foreign Beijing residents and former residents, including French, Canadians, Americans, Australians, and Malaysians. Notably, among the missing were families and students from two international schools in Beijing and an executive from IBM.

Following the disappearance, a number of Beijing foreign residents whose loved ones and family members were onboard the flight attempted to raise USD 5 million for a private investigation into the incident.

Netflix released a three part documentary on the disappearance last year, titled MH370: The Plane That Disappeared, chronicling the story of the vanished flight and interviewing reporters, avionics experts, and families of lost passengers and crew; as well as looking at a number of possible theories for the missing flight.

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