The families of the passengers aboard the still missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 are to receive $50,000 each.
An insurer for Malaysia Airlines has already paid seven of the families, including six Malaysian and one Chinese, officials told MSN Malaysia on Thursday. All families of the 239 passengers and crew on board the Beijing-bound fight are entitled to the $50,000, RM 160,000, initial compensation.
The final compensation will be issued pending a decision on how much the families should receive. The families claim that according to International Civil Aviation Organization rules they are entitled to $175,000. But the payment cannot be determined because the Malaysian government has not officially declared the plane lost.
The government can only issue the final amount until the plane is found and the cause of its disappearance is determined, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"When we talk about the full payment, we have to wait until we announce the issue on the tragedy MH370 is over...whether the plane is found, whether we announce the plane is lost," Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainudin said according to MSN Malaysia.
Flight 370 disappeared somewhere between Malaysia and south Vietnam after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8. A multinational search has been underway for several weeks, probing the depths of the Southern Indian Ocean where the Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed. No sign of the plane or its wreckage have been found.
Malaysia has assured the families it will never stop searching for the plane. But the government has faced heavy criticism from relatives who believe there is a conspiracy to cover up details from the search. Malaysia denies any cover up.
"The government has been very transparent from day one," Zainudin said according to MSN Malaysia.
Some relatives launched an online campaign on Sunday to raise $5 million for anyone to come forward with information they believe the government is hiding, MSN Malaysia reported. So far they have raised over $25,000.
