The family of Perth man Paul Weeks, who was on the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, is suing the company for damages.

Five writs were lodged on March 4 in the West Australian Supreme Court – four days before the second anniversary of the plane’s mysterious disappearance and just before the statute of limitations was reached.

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Weeks’ wife Danica, sister Sara, brother Peter and mother Prudence Tomblin are each claiming compensation for “personal injury, loss and damage” suffered as a result of “sudden shock” and “mental harm” after his death, the Sunday Times newspaper reports.

Lotter with the piece of debris that may belong to MH370. Candace Lotter via AP.

Danica also launched a separate legal bid on behalf of their two children – five-year-old Lincoln and two-year-old Jack – covering lost earnings, financial loss, funeral costs and damages for the loss of his luggage.

The family is also claiming for six per cent interest on damages per year and reimbursement of their legal costs.

Meanwhile, debris discovered by a South African teenager will be sent to Australia for testing as part of the investigation into the disappearance of the plane, the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) says.

Liam Lotter, 18, told South Africa’s East Coast radio on Friday he found the piece of debris on a beach in Mozambique while on holiday in December 2015 and took it back to his family home in South Africa.

“We were quite interested to see what it was so we took it up to the house and my uncle said: ‘No, you found a boat, throw it away, it’s a piece of rubbish,” Mr Lotter recalled.

“I said: ‘No, you know what? I’m going to do some research and see what I can find on the internet.’ And you know what? On the side it has sort of a serial number.”

The Boeing 777 aircraft vanished shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people onboard.