MH370: Angry relatives of Chinese passengers demand apology from Malaysia

Perth/Kuala Lumpur: Angry relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the Malaysian plane today demanded that Malaysia must apologise for hastily concluding that the jet had crashed in the Indian Ocean, as the hunt for debris failed to yield any leads despite sighting several objects. Possible debris sightings by Chinese, Australian and New Zealand military planes did not find any solid clues in one the most baffling aviation mysteries, compounding the frustration of families who have been waiting for more than three weeks to get detailed and confirmed information on the 239 missing passengers aboard Flight MH370. [caption id=“attachment_1457801” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The search for the Malaysia Airlines jet entered the 22nd day today with 10 aircraft and eight ships tasked to scour the Indian Ocean, after early sightings in the new search zone drew a blank. The chief of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, He Jianzhong said that the international effort had not found any objects linked to the plane today, and that Chinese vessels would expand their search area. Some 29 family members from China arrived in Kuala Lumpur and held a news conference at their hotel, imploring officials to be more transparent. About 50 more family members joined those who had earlier flown to Malaysia, saying they hoped to get more information from officials. “We want evidence, we want truth and we want our family,” said Jiang Hui, the families’ designated representative. The crowd chanted the same words. “We will stay until the final end,” he said, adding that they would express their requirements in an appropriate and legal way. They also asked Malaysia to apologise for releasing confusing information and for announcing on March 24 that the plane had crashed without “direct evidence”. Jiang said the families also call for a meeting with aircraft manufacturers and service providers such as Boeing and Rolls-Royce. Meanwhile, approximately 252,000 square kilometres were searched by nine aircraft from countries like the US, Australia, China. ` Eight ships were tasked in the MH370 search area with a merchant ship also transiting through the area. “Aircraft in the search area have continued to report sightings of objects similar to those reported previously. Objects sighted by aircraft cannot be verified or discounted as being from MH370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships. Nothing has yet been verified as being from MH370,” Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said. A number of objects were retrieved by HMAS Success and Haixun 01 yesterday. The objects have been examined on the ships and are not believed to be related to MH370. The objects have been described as fishing equipment and other flotsam, it said. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the “intensifying search effort” as positive because objects “have been recovered from the ocean”. The Australian navy ship given the job of finding the black box recorder of flight MH370 is preparing to leave Perth to join search operations. The towed pinger locater on the Ocean Shield has a range of 1.6km and depth capability up to 6,000m. An unmanned US underwater drone will also be on board, ready to dive once the pinger locater has found a signal to map the sea floor and photograph potential debris there. “Finding the black box flight recorder of the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet is simply untenable as things stand at the moment,” Captain Mark Matthews, the US Navy officer who will lead the search has conceded. “It all depends on how effective we are at reducing the search area,” said Matthews, a search-and-recovery expert who was involved in the two-year search to find the black box of Air France flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. Former Australian defence force chief Angus Houston would head a new unit to help in the search involving the militaries of seven nations – Australia, China, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the US. Houston would lead the new Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) based in Perth, “to coordinate the Australian government’s support for the search into MH370,” Abbott said. The jetliner carrying 239 people – including five Indians, an Indo-Canadian and 154 Chinese nationals – had vanished after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. PTI