NEW DELHI: Relatives of passengers who mysteriously disappeared while flying to Beijing 10 years ago demanded a new search on Sunday as they find it tough to get closure with no trace of the plane discovered to date.
A Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, carrying 239 flyers, vanished from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
The plane has never been found despite years of search operations, which is considered the largest in aviation history.
On Sunday, around 500 relatives and supporters gathered at a shopping centre near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur to mark “remembrance day”, with most of them overwhelmed with grief.
Some came from China, where almost two-thirds of the passengers of the doomed plane were from.
“The last 10 years have been a nonstop emotional rollercoaster for me,” Grace Nathan, a 36-year-old Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, 56, was on the flight, told news agency AFP.
Daisy called the Malaysian government to begin a new search, saying “MH370 is not history”.
Liu Shuang Fong, 67, from China’s Hebei province lost her 28-year-old son Li Yan Lin, who was also a passenger on the plane.
“I demand justice for my son. Where is the plane?” said Liu, who flew to Malaysia for the event.
“The search must go on,” she added.
The search to locate the plane lasted for nearly three years, with 1,20,000 square kilometres of the Indian Ocean covered. However, hardly any trace of the plane barring some pieces of debris. Later in 2017, the Australian-led operation was suspended.
A US exploration firm launched a private hunt for MH370 in 2018, but it ended after several months of scouring the seabed without success.
Malaysian government mulling to renew search
The Malaysian government said on Sunday that it may renew the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
Malaysia’s transport minister said the government is likely to consider a US firm offer to begin a fresh search in the southern Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have crashed in 2014.
Transport minister Anthony Loke said Texas-based Ocean Infinity has proposed another “no find, no fee” basis to scour the seabeds, expanding from the site where it first searched in 2018.
Loke said he has invited the company to meet him to evaluate new scientific evidence it has to find the plane’s final resting place.
If the evidence is credible, he said, he will seek Cabinet’s approval to sign a new contract with Ocean Infinity to resume the search.
“The government is steadfast in our resolve to locate MH370,” Loke told a remembrance event to mark the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of the jet. “We really hope the search can find the plane and provide truth to the next-of-kin,” he said.
(With AFP input)
A Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, carrying 239 flyers, vanished from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
The plane has never been found despite years of search operations, which is considered the largest in aviation history.
On Sunday, around 500 relatives and supporters gathered at a shopping centre near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur to mark “remembrance day”, with most of them overwhelmed with grief.
Some came from China, where almost two-thirds of the passengers of the doomed plane were from.
“The last 10 years have been a nonstop emotional rollercoaster for me,” Grace Nathan, a 36-year-old Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, 56, was on the flight, told news agency AFP.
Daisy called the Malaysian government to begin a new search, saying “MH370 is not history”.
Liu Shuang Fong, 67, from China’s Hebei province lost her 28-year-old son Li Yan Lin, who was also a passenger on the plane.
“I demand justice for my son. Where is the plane?” said Liu, who flew to Malaysia for the event.
“The search must go on,” she added.
The search to locate the plane lasted for nearly three years, with 1,20,000 square kilometres of the Indian Ocean covered. However, hardly any trace of the plane barring some pieces of debris. Later in 2017, the Australian-led operation was suspended.
A US exploration firm launched a private hunt for MH370 in 2018, but it ended after several months of scouring the seabed without success.
Malaysian government mulling to renew search
The Malaysian government said on Sunday that it may renew the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
Malaysia’s transport minister said the government is likely to consider a US firm offer to begin a fresh search in the southern Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have crashed in 2014.
Transport minister Anthony Loke said Texas-based Ocean Infinity has proposed another “no find, no fee” basis to scour the seabeds, expanding from the site where it first searched in 2018.
Loke said he has invited the company to meet him to evaluate new scientific evidence it has to find the plane’s final resting place.
If the evidence is credible, he said, he will seek Cabinet’s approval to sign a new contract with Ocean Infinity to resume the search.
“The government is steadfast in our resolve to locate MH370,” Loke told a remembrance event to mark the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of the jet. “We really hope the search can find the plane and provide truth to the next-of-kin,” he said.
(With AFP input)