Families of the passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 have started claiming compensation and liability insurance from private insurance companies and from the airlines.

Reports said that although no wreckage has yet been found, Malaysia has announced that the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean and because of this, the families can officially claim insurance from both the commercial insurance provider and the airlines.

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Compensation and liability claims by the families of the passengers have commenced even though the multinational search teams have yet to find debris on their  more than 50 days of searching.

Tuo Guozhu, a professor of the Capital University of Economics and Business, said that although the cause of the tragedy is yet to be established and that no trace of the plane debris has been found, the fact that Malaysia announced that  the plane has crashed served as a go-signal to the passengers to start claiming.

Although compensation claims have started commencing, the search for the missing plane continues amid the recent pull out of the aerial assets of the search teams.

Sun Rushan, a security researcher, said that the case of the MH370 has been challenging because the search areas have been based mainly on calculations and that no one can pinpoint exactly where the plane had crashed.

Families of the Chinese passengers have started to receive compensation since last month and reports said they will likely receive more compensation both from commercial insurance bought by the passengers and liability compensation paid by the airlines.

Malaysia is liable to pay up to 1.2 million yuan or US $195,000 for each passenger, being a member of the Montreal Convention. Reports said that the amount could reach higher if the airline would be found negligent.

Zheng Wei of Peking University said that Malaysia Airlines need not pay claims in the meantime that the negligence aspect is being investigated.