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Home / New Zealand

Family of MH370 victim filing lawsuit: 'Our lives have been destroyed'

Matthew Theunissen
By Matthew Theunissen
NZ Herald·
5 Mar, 2016 05:17 AM5 mins to read

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MH370 disappeared two years ago. Photo / AP

MH370 disappeared two years ago. Photo / AP

The grieving family of one of the New Zealanders on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will file a lawsuit against the carrier.

Ximin Wang, 50, was one of 239 people on board the Boeing 777 which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Despite the flight never being found, according to the 1999 Montreal Convention, to which both New Zealand and Malaysia are signatories, the right to damages shall be extinguished if an action is not brought within two years from the date the aircraft ought to have arrived at its destination.

Read more:
• The man who's hoping to solve MH370 puzzle one piece at a time
• Lawyers line up as MH370 deadline nears
• First photos of new 'MH370 debris' emerge

Wang's daughter, who asked not to be named, said the family would file a lawsuit against Malaysia Airlines before the close of business on Tuesday; which marks the two-year anniversary of the tragedy.

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Law suits have already been lodged against the Malaysia government and the airline by the families of several American, Australian, Russian, Ukranian, Chinese and Malaysian people who died in the tragedy.

"We don't have a choice, we have to do it otherwise we've lost all rights," she said, adding that her family was deeply unhappy with the two-year deadline.

"This is not an ordinary crash or an ordinary accident because the others in the past, they are able to find them. That's when it makes sense to have this two year limit.

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"But ours is different - we have no idea. The only thing they've found to date is the flaperon and after still spending so much time and effort they are still not able to locate it."

Fighting back tears, Wang's daughter, who is in her 20s, said she still thinks about what happened every day.

"I know some people may have already forgotten about this, but not for us. I think about it during the day or at night when I sleep, when I dream. I keep thinking, why has this all happened? But then, it's been nearly two years and we still know nothing."

Wang's wife of 27 years remained stricken with grief.

Discover more

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"She has to take pills. She was fine, she was healthy before but she's had a panic attack since this happened. I think it's some kind of stress disorder or something, I don't know," their daughter said.

"Our lives have been destroyed by this thing. We were such a happy family before. This is the pain that I don't want others to experience."

"I miss him every day. I can't even look at him. I can't even look at his things. We locked away his stuff 'cause when I see his clothes, his stuff, I can't stop crying."

The family felt anger towards Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government for the way they had been treated in the wake of the tragedy, and because it had been able to happen at all.

"It doesn't make sense, you know. If they did things properly, if they were doing their job properly, we wouldn't be so frustrated now, we wouldn't be so lost now. It would be a totally different story."

She didn't know what the family would do to mark two years since MH370 vanished, only that March 8 was a date that will haunt her and her family forever.

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"My dad, whenever he travels, when he lands safely he will contact us. But he didn't. Initially we thought it was delayed and we checked the Beijing Airport website. I think it was showing as delayed.

"But then after several hours, it's just like, it didn't make sense because all the other flights that travelled after that one got there and then it still showed delay. And then we saw that in the news."

She struggled over tears to describe her father.

"He's funny, he's kind, he's like friend and a dad me and he always gave me guidance. I miss him every day. Every day."

The only confirmed item found from the aircraft was a piece of its wing, which washed up on Reunion Island east of Madagascar in July last year.

Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which is leading the search for the MH370, has indicated it will be called off in June unless the plane is found.

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However, it is not yet clear whether a piece of debris found off the east African coast earlier this week is part of the aircraft and, if so, what implications this will have for the search.

Wang's daughter said it must continue regardless.

"All the families are entitled to know what happened and it is important to us and to everyone who travels to know what caused this to go missing and to fix whatever went wrong so it doesn't happened to another one.

"They shouldn't give up on them. They shouldn't give up on 370. They have 239 reasons to keep going."

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