Australia waives visa fees for passengers' families

Australia will waive the visa fees for the families of the passengers of a lost Malaysian airliner if they wish to visit the country, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told the Federal Parliament Tuesday.

He said the fees would be waived for the families of passengers on the flight that went down in the southern Indian Ocean off Western Australia.

Abbott again offered his condolences to the relatives and families of those on the flight and said a formal condolence motion would be moved on Wednesday.

"It's highly likely ... that in the coming days and weeks, many of the relatives of passengers on the ill-fated flight 370 will wish to come to Australia," he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced Monday night that Flight MH370, which disappeared over the South China Sea while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, had "ended in the southern Indian Ocean".

The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, had left the KL International Airport at 12.41 am. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30 am (Malaysian time) on the same day.