CHINESE KIN DEMAND ‘TRUTH’ BEHIND MH370
Relatives’ anger flares after Malaysia links debris to missing jet
Chinese relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 reacted with anger and disbelief Thursday after Malaysia’s leader said a wing flap found on an Indian Ocean island was “conclusively” confirmed to be from the missing plane.
“They tell us nothing. From the beginning they have left us in the dark,” said Dai Shuqin, 62, who lost five family members aboard the plane. “This statement proves nothing, our relatives could still be out there.”
Following Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement Wednesday, Paris Deputy Prosecutor Serge Mackowiak expressed slightly less certainty, citing a “strong supposition” that the flaperon found on a beach on Reunion Island on July 29 was part of the missing jetliner. The U.S. and Australia also stopped short of full confirmation.
The examination of the flaperon began in earnest Thursday at an aeronautical testing site near Toulouse in southern France. The Boeing 777 vanished March 8, 2014, after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, bound for Beijing with 239 people aboard. Most of the victims were Chinese.
“We are all old,” Dai said. “Our bodies, our hearts, our eyes have also suffered this last year and a half. We can’t take it any more; we just want the truth.”
Speaking in Kuala Lumpur, Secretary of State John Kerry expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. “All the wounds have been opened again, all of the sorrow is felt even more intensely, and there are no words to express adequately our sense of loss and our sense of heartbreak to the families of the vic- tims,” he said.
Malaysia said its team on the island had recovered other debris, including a window, seat cushions and some aluminum foil, which would be sent to French authorities for verification, the Associated Press and CNN reported.
However, a spokeswoman in the Paris prosecutor’s office who was not authorized to be named said there is no new airplane debris on the island, the AP reported. The Australian agency helping coordinate the search for the jetliner also said there was no indication of new airplane debris, CNN reported.
A number of reported sightings of debris since the plane went missing have turned out to be false alarms. Pings that were suspected to be coming from the black boxes in April last year were also found to be unconnected to the aircraft.
Starting Friday, France will deploy new air and maritime resources off Reunion Island in the search for more wreckage from the plane.
Angry relatives gathered at the Beijing offices of Malaysia Airlines, demanding more information.
“This is what Malaysia always does: They confirmed one day and renew our hope, and then deny it and kill our dreams off. How could we believe them this time? I only believe the French government,” said Li Yuehua, whose daughter Li Wenbo, 29, was aboard the aircraft.