Missing plane’s battery poser

KUALA LUMPUR: The first comprehensive report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 revealed yesterday that the battery of the locator beacon for the plane’s data recorder had expired more than a year before the jet vanished on March 8 last year.

Apart from the anomaly of the expired battery, the detailed report devoted pages after pages describing the complete normality of the flight, which disappeared while heading from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Families of the 239 people on board marked the anniversary of the Boeing 777’s disappearance, vowing to never give up on the desperate search for wreckage and answers. Despite an exhaustive search for the plane, no trace of it has been found.

The significance of the expired battery in the beacon of the plane’s flight data recorder was not immediately apparent. However, the report said the battery in the locator beacon of the cockpit voice recorder was working.

Even though the beacon’s battery had expired, the instrument itself was functioning properly.

The 584-page report by a 19-member independent investigation group went into minute details about the crew’s lives. It also detailed the aircraft’s service record as well as the weather, communications systems and other aspects of the flight. Nothing unusual was revealed.

It also said 221kg of lithium ion batteries packed by Motorola Solutions in Malaysia’s Penang state didn’t go through security screening at Penang airport.

The shipment was inspected physically by the airline cargo personnel and went through customs inspection and clearance before it was sealed and left Penang a day before the flight. The report said the batteries were not regulated as dangerous goods.

Meanwhile, family members of the passengers and crew marked the anniversary of the plane’s disappearance. Voice 370, a support group for the relatives, hosted a “Day of Remembrance” at a mall in Kuala Lumpur.

“It is important to highlight to the public that we still don’t have any answers and that we must pursue the search,” said Grace Subathirai Nathan, whose mother, Anne Daisy, was on the plane.

The report stated 221kg of lithium ion batteries packed in Malaysia didn’t go through security

Picture: AP ANGUISH: Liu Guiqiu, whose son was on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, cries as she protests near the Malaysian embassy in Beijing on the one-year anniversary of the plane’s disappearance yesterday. Words on the T-shirt read “Truth Malaysia Airlines 370 where is it?”.