Malaysia Airlines Offers $5,000 To Assist Families Of MH17 Victims

Malaysia Airlines said Monday it will provide $5,000 to each family of passengers who perished on downed Flight MH17. The airlines said it will also provide counseling as well as hotel accommodations, meals and transportation for families.

"As goodwill, to ease the immediate families of the passengers with their economic needs, the airline is also offering a financial assistance of USD5,000 to the families of each passenger," Malaysia Airlines said in a statement. "Funds have already been made available for this purpose."

The financial assistance won't count against the final compensation awarded to the victims' families or any legal claims arising from the incident, the airlines said.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down Thursday, killing the 298 passengers and crew on board. The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and fell near the village of Hrabove, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Access to the MH17 crash site and the recovery of the bodies has been hindered by separatists.

Malaysia Airlines previously offered to refund all purchased tickets for travel between July 18 and Dec. 31, 2014. These waivers are only applicable from July 18-24, it said.