Relatives of Malaysia plane crash victims mark 10 years since disappearance

AFP

KUALA LUMPUR—Relatives of passengers on a Malaysia Airlines plane that mysteriously vanished 10 years ago pushed for a new search on Sunday as they spoke of enduring grief and the struggle to find closure.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 239 people, disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has never been found.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday that he would be “happy to reopen” the search for Flight MH370 if “compelling” evidence emerged, opening the door to a renewed hunt a decade after the plane disappeared.

“If there is compelling evidence that it needs to be reopened, we will certainly be happy to reopen it,” he said when asked about the matter during a visit to Melbourne.

“I don’t think it’s a technical issue. It’s an issue affecting the lives of people and whatever needs to be done must be done,” he said.

About 500 relatives and their supporters gathered Sunday at a shopping center near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur for a “remembrance day,” with many visibly overcome with grief.

Plane wreckage believed to be from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is displayed during an event held by relatives of the passengers and supporters to mark the 10th year since the Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 239 people disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, in Subang Jaya on March 3, 2024. (Photo by Arif Kartono / AFP).

They lit 239 candles, one for each passenger lost on the flight.

Some relatives 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 roller coaster for me,” Grace Nathan, a 36-year-old Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, 56, was on the flight, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Speaking to the crowd, she called on the Malaysian government to conduct a new search.

“MH370 is not history,” she said.

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.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke told reporters that “as far Malaysia is concerned it is committed to finding the plane … cost is not the issue.”

In this photo taken on February 29, 2024, Grace Nathan, a relative of one of the missing victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared in 2014, speaks to AFP during an interview in Damansara, Selangor. (Photo by Arif Kartono / AFP).

He told relatives at the gathering that he would meet with officials from Texas-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which conducted a previous unsuccessful search to discuss a new operation.

“We are now awaiting for them to provide suitable dates and I hope to meet them soon.”

Ocean Infinity’s search in 2018 ended after several months of scouring the seabed without success.

An earlier Australia-led search that covered 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) in the Indian Ocean found hardly any trace of the plane, with only some pieces of debris picked up.

Considered the biggest search in aviation history, the operation was suspended in January 2017.

The plane’s disappearance has long been the subject of a host of theories—ranging from the credible to outlandish—including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.A final report into the tragedy released in 2018 pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.