MH370 next-of-kin files suit against MAS and four others

KUALA LUMPUR: The two underaged sons of a MH370 passenger filed a suit against Malaysia Airlines System (MAS), the Malaysian government and three others today for their alleged roles in the disappearance of the plane and its 239 passengers in March this year.
Jee Jing Hang, 41, a businessman, was among the passengers on the plane which left KLIA for Beijing at 12.41am on March 8 and disappeared from radar an hour later while over the South China Sea.
The suit was filed through the sons' mother and guardian Ng Pearl Ming, 38 at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Ng and her two sons, aged 11 and 13 were not present in court.
The three others named as defendents are director-general of Civil Aviation Department, director general of Immigration Department and the chief of Royal Malaysian Air Force.
The family members are suing MAS for alleged negligence and breach of contract and the other defendents for alleged negligence.
Datuk Dr Arunan Selvaraj of Messrs Rusman Arunan and Associates filed the suit on behalf of the family.
He said that while the family members appreciated the efforts MAS and other relevant authorities have made to find the missing plane, there is no clear indication as to who should be taking responsibility for its disappearance.
"Search efforts are what is happening now but what we want to know is what happened at that time? Who should be responsible for the incident? No one has came forward taking responsibility for the missing plane," he said to reporters after the suit was filed.
He mentioned that the matter is no longer limited to what the MH370 passengers' families have gone through since the plane disappeared, but more about what the passengers themselves would have expected from the authorities.
"Try putting yourself in the passengers' shoes, how would you feel? Wouldn't you want accountability? Wouldn't you want someone to be responsible?
That's what we want at the end of the day," he said, adding that family members were seeking damages over the loss of support, mental distress and pain, and breach of duty by the defendants, among others.
Arunan did not specify the amount of damages the family members were seeking. The suit is believed to be the first to be filed in Malaysia over the missing flight.