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Legal action launched over missing MH370

· Weather worsens in search zone

A US law firm says it has started “multi-million dollar” proceedings against Malaysia Airlines and Boeing over flight MH370, in what could mark the start of an expensive legal battle over the lost plane.

Chicago-based Ribbeck Law Chartered International said on Wednesday it filed a court petition in the US state of Illinois on Tuesday, seeking documents pertaining to possible design or mechanical defects or conduct by the airline that may have led to the disaster.

“We believe that both defendants named are responsible for the disaster of Flight MH370,” the firm said in a statement released in Kuala Lumpur.

“It is extremely important for the victims we represent that all responsible parties are brought to justice without exceptions,” the statement said, quoting its head of aviation litigation Monica Kelly.

The “petition for discovery” filed on Tuesday seeks potential evidence from the opposing party in any lawsuit.

The law firm said families “have initiated a multimillion dollar litigation process”, but did not specify how much in damages may be sought in the future.

The legal action was filed on behalf of Januari Siregar, “a lawyer who lost his son in the terrible crash”, the firm said. It gave no further details on the plaintiff.

“We must find what caused the aircraft to crash and demand that the problems with the airline and the aircraft’s design and manufacturing are immediately resolved to avoid future tragedies,” Kelly said.

Ground contact with the Beijing-bound flight was lost somewhere over the Gulf of Thailand, shortly after it took off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 with 239 people aboard bound for Beijing.

Malaysia believes it was deliberately diverted and said on Monday that an analysis of satellite data indicates the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, far from its original path.

Planes and ships are searching the area after satellite images showed objects in the water that could come from the missing plane though no wreckage has yet been picked up.

No evidence has publicly emerged to indicate what caused the plane to divert.

Many of the next-of-kin of MH370 passengers, particularly Chinese relatives, have been frustrated with the failure to determine what befell the plane and angrily accuse the flag carrier and the Malaysian government of incompetence and withholding information.

Two thirds of the 227 passengers were Chinese.

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