CANBERRA, May 2 (Xinhua) -- Australian parents who lost their three children in the MH17 disaster have become the first in Australia to settle with Malaysia Airlines over the crash of the flight in Ukraine, local media revealed on Tuesday.
Anthony and Marite Maslin from Perth in Western Australia lost three children in the tragedy as they were travelling with their grandfather from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when the plane crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board.
A statement released by Malaysia Airlines' senior executive, Norshafiza Zulkifli, confirmed that a settlement between Malaysia Airlines and the Maslins had been reached, but said the settlement was not "an admission of liability or guilt" on behalf of Malaysia Airlines.
"We can confirm that we have reached an amicable and confidential settlement with the Maslin family and therefore the suit has been withdrawn," the statement, obtained by News Corp, said.
"We will not however disclose any further details on this suit or about the details of the settlement in respect to the privacy of the family."
The Maslins told their lawyers that they suffered nervous shock and developed depressive and psychiatric illnesses that required counselling as a result of learning of the tragedy from news reports.
According to Zulkifli, there were still at least 10 Australian lawsuits which are yet to be settled as a result of the MH17 crash, while the airline had settled with a "substantial number of next of kin" from other nations, mostly those from the Netherlands, where the plane originated.
