A relative (C) of a passenger of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 holds a picture of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak with the writing "Please bring back my husband" after the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) decided to cancel a press conference in Putrajaya on January 29, 2015. Malaysia's government said it would make a statement on January 29 regarding missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, as rumours swirled the plane was to be formally declared "lost". AFP PHOTOSTR/AFP/Getty Images
Video Ad Feedback
MH370 family: Our motherland has failed us
01:35 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

The search for the missing airliner will continue

The declaration allows loved ones to continue with compensation claims

CNN  — 

The government of Malaysia has officially declared the loss of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 an accident and all of its passengers and crew presumed dead.

But the search for the missing Boeing 777 will continue.

The formal declaration, read Thursday by civil aviation director Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, will allow the families of those presumed dead to continue the compensation process with the airline or with insurers.

BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 08: (CHINA OUT) A relative of the MH370 victims cries as she burns incense to pray for the missing person in Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 accident on the two-year anniversary at Yonghe Palace on March 8, 2016 in Beijing, China. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and which carried 239 passengers mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014. The Premier Najib Razak of Malaysia declared on August 6, 2015 that flight MH370 met a tragic end in the Indian Ocean after partial wreckage was found on July 29 on Reunion Island. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 08: (CHINA OUT) A relative of the MH370 victims cries as she burns incense to pray for the missing person in Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 accident on the two-year anniversary at Yonghe Palace on March 8, 2016 in Beijing, China. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and which carried 239 passengers mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014. The Premier Najib Razak of Malaysia declared on August 6, 2015 that flight MH370 met a tragic end in the Indian Ocean after partial wreckage was found on July 29 on Reunion Island. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
Visual China Group/Getty Images
gallery

Related gallery The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

“It is therefore, with the heaviest heart and deepest sorrow that, on behalf of the Government of Malaysia, we officially declare Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident in accordance with the Standards of Annexes 12 and 13 to the Chicago Convention and that all 239 of the passengers and crew on board MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives,” Azharuddin said.

MH370 disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing.

It is believed to have gone down in the Indian Ocean far off the western coast of Australia.