Malaysia readying to issue death certificates

The Malaysian government is getting ready to issue death certificates for passengers on the missing MH370 and provide financial assistance to families while search efforts continue on the 46th day since the plane's disappearance.[Special coverage]

Malaysia Deputy Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainudin on Sunday told a press conference that they will be fair to all relatives of everyone onboard the plane.

"When we talk about financial assistance, we have to be fair with everybody," he said.

"The only discussion currently is to the next of kin in Malaysia and to representative from China. So, we don't only talk to Malaysia next of kin. We'll talk to everybody."

Reuters and Malaysian media reported the government will issue death certificates to relatives even though no bodies have been discovered.

Although a body is usually needed for authorities to issue a death certificate, Malaysian courts might still declare people onboard MH370 are presumed dead as early as next week, Malaysian media outlet Malay Mail Online reported Monday.

The move from the Malaysian government has triggered the anger of relatives.

"We believe that until they have conclusive proof that the plane crashed with no survivors, they have no right to attempt to settle this case with death certificates and final payoffs," a relatives group said in an e-mail to the Global Times late Sunday.

"We don't expect that they will find all of the plane, or all of the bodies, or even that they know everything about how this surreal situation happened, but we do expect at least a tiny bit of concrete evidence."

Hamzah said assistance would come from Malaysia Airlines, with the government to bear some of the costs. He would travel to Beijing soon in a bid to ensure that bilateral ties between Malaysia and China would not be affected by the incident.

A tropical cyclone was threatening to hamper the search for the plane in remote Indian Ocean on Monday, as a submarine drone neared the end of its mission.

A US navy remote-controlled submarine, the Bluefin-21, was on its ninth mission scanning the largely unmapped stretch of sea bed where the pings are believed to have come from, with still no trace found, Australian search officials said on Monday.

By Agencies – Global Times