The couple who lost their three young children and the maternal grandfather to the children, are the first Australians to come to a settlement with the airlines over the tragic incident which resulted in the deaths of 283 passengers and 15 crew on July 17, 2014.

Anthony and Marite Maslin had filed a suit against the airline in July last year, seeking damages for nervous shock, resulting in depressive and psychiatric illnesses that required counselling, treatment and medication, and for having failed to inform the couple promptly about the atrocity.

“We can confirm that we have reached an amicable and confidential settlement with the Maslin family and therefore the suit has been withdrawn,” Malaysia Airlines senior executive Norshafiza Zulkifli said in a statement released yesterday.

“We will not however, disclose any further details on this suit or about the details of the settlement in respect to the privacy of the family.”

The Maslins, who are from Perth, Western Australia, lost their children Mo, 12, Evie, 10, and Otis, 8, as well as Marite’s father Nick Norris, in the tragic incident which has since been blamed on Russian-backed rebels in Donetsk, Ukraine.

Norris’ wife was also a party to the suit, which has now been withdrawn following the settlement with the airline.

The airline said it had always intended to fully compensate all next of kin under the Montreal Convention, and that this settlement with the Maslins was “not tantamount to an admission of liability of guilt”.

“Malaysia Airlines was flying over an unrestricted airspace and was compliant of all applicable regulatory requirements in preparing and operating its flight as confirmed by the Dutch Safety Board in its Final Report into the crash of MH17,” the airline said.

According to the airline, it has now settled with a “substantial number of next of kin”, most of whom are Dutch nationals, over the MH17 crash.

However, according to Sydney-based The Daily Telegraph, at least 10 cases remain outstanding in Australia.