Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia has spent 231.45 million ringgit (53.95 million dollars) so far on the search for flight MH370, which disappeared more than a year ago, a senior official said on Monday.
Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told the parliament that the amount was calculated at the end of October.
He said the full cost of the search - which also involves Australia and China - was not known.
Beijing-bound flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 after it took off from Kuala Lumpur.
Liow also told the parliament that Malaysia Airlines has so far paid partial compensation to 74 relatives of people aboard MH370 as well as 236 relatives of passengers on flight MH17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine in July last year after it was shot down by a missile.
The total amount paid to the next of kin in the two incidents amounted to 71.27 million ringgit, he added.
Liow said the amount of compensation to be paid to the next of kin was based on the Montreal Convention 1999, which establishes airline liability in the case of death, injury or delay to passengers or in cases of delay, damage or loss of baggage and cargo.
DPA
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