Transport Ministry to meet PM over compensation for next-of kin of MH370 victims

Michelle Gomes, daughter of Patrick Gomes who was the in-flight supervisor onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, comforts her son Rafael Gomes during its fifth annual remembrance event in Kuala Lumpur on March 3, 2019. - REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo

PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): The Transport Ministry is expected to meet Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin next week to present a Cabinet paper on compensation to the next-of-kin of the victims onboard Malaysian Airlines MH370 which went missing on March 8, 2014.

Its secretary-general, Datuk Isham Ishak said the compensation would be an out-of-court settlement for the suits filed by the beneficiaries of the victims concerned against the Malaysian Government and related agencies.

"I have already submitted my request to meet the Prime Minister next week so that I can present the paper...I will try my best to get the support that you guys have been longing for the last six years," he said at the 6th anniversary of MH370's disappearance, here, Saturday (March 7).

Isham said the ministry would also continue to seek support from the new government to resume the search for the missing aircraft.

"I know there's a lot of hopes in this room and I can feel that. Who else would you put your heart on, hope on, apart from the Government of Malaysia," he said.

Also present at the event, attended by the next-of kin of the MH370 victims, was former Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook.

Loke said he was supposed to present the Cabinet paper at a cabinet meeting scheduled last Feb 26, but was not able to do so due to the political turmoil recently.

"The memorandum is crucial because through it, we have obtained agreement from lawyers representing the beneficiaries of the victims to settle the summons cases out of court by compensating them.

Loke expressed his regret for not being able to push the matter further, but said he would meet the new Transport Minister, once the person has been appointed, to request that the search for the missing plane to be resumed.

Flight MH370, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared from the radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport enroute to Beijing on March 8, 2014. - Bernama