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Families of 12 passengers on Flight 370 file lawsuits
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Lawyer Arunan Selvaraj (center) flanked by his legal associates speaks to The Associated Press during an interview at his office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 25. (AP/Joshua Paul)
F
amilies of 12 passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on Friday sued the carrier and the government, ahead of a filing deadline next week on the second anniversary of the plane's disappearance.
The Boeing 777 carrying 239 flew far off course for unknown reasons after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. An ongoing search of the southern Indian Ocean has found no trace of the plane, though a wing part from the aircraft washed ashore on Reunion Island last year.
A global aviation agreement sets a two-year deadline for lawsuits by next-of-kin over air accidents.
Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who is representing 10 families, said the lawsuits involve a passenger from Russia, one from China and the rest from Malaysia. Apart from the airline, the lawsuits also named the government and the then heads of the civil aviation department and the navy as defendants.
Sangeet said her clients were engaged in settlement negotiations with the airline earlier.
"Everyone waited till the last minute to give time to the airline to settle but nothing reasonable was forthcoming. So they have no choice but to take legal action given the time limitation," Sangeet said.
Lawyer Yeoh Cho Kheong, who is representing the families of two Ukrainian passengers, said his clients will continue negotiations with the airline despite the lawsuit.
All the lawsuits are seeking unspecified sums for negligence and breach of contract, the lawyers said.
An international aviation agreement allows each next-of-kin of passengers on board a plane up to US$175,000 in compensation, but a plaintiff filing a lawsuit can seek more.
A Boeing 777 flaperon was found on an island in the western Indian Ocean in July and confirmed by authorities to have come from the ill-fated plane.
