Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: Lawsuits set to begin after officials confirm death certificates to be issued to families

The families of passengers and crew aboard missing Flight MH370 will be issued with death certificates, in a move that could pave the way for potential lawsuits against the airline.

Government officials met distressed relatives at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday to discuss ways of providing them with financial assistance.

It will come as distressing news to some relatives who are clinging on to the hope the 239 people on-board the flight could be alive.

But it will allow them to receive financial aid and potentially start legal action against Malaysian Airlines.

Hamid Ramlan, whose daughter and son-in-law were aboard Flight MH370, told CNN that his wife “cannot accept” that the plane disappeared.

“She still believes that the plane was hijacked and she believes that my daughter is still alive,” he said.

Another expressed dissatisfaction with the meeting, telling CNN that “no meaningful report on the progress of the investigation was given”.

Hamzah Zainuddin, Malaysia’s deputy foreign affairs minister, is running a committee dedicated to looking after the needs of the next of kin.

He said: “We realise this is an excruciating time for the families of those on board. We understand the desperate need for information on behalf of the families and those watching around the world”.

Authorities are currently scanning the seabed for signs of wreckage from the flight, which disappeared without trace while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

The US Navy’s Bluefin-21, a remotely-controlled mini-submarine, is currently carrying out a complex underwater search using sonar for signs of the flight.

But last night the sub was nearing the end of its ninth search mission without any signs of the wreckage.

A tropical cyclone has also grounded planes that were due to fly across the Indian Ocean in search of wreckage.