Anger over new MH370 report

MISSING PLANE: INVESTIGATION REVEALS NO CLUES Meeting descends into shouting match as family members’ frustrations boil over.

Along-awaited official report into the disappearance of Flight MH370 gave no new clues yesterday about why the Malaysian plane vanished, sparking anger and disappointment among relatives of those on board.

The report from the official investigation team pointed to failings by air traffic controllers and suggested the Malaysia Airlines plane was likely diverted from its flight path manually, rather than due to a mechanical fault.

But it said the Boeing 777 jet, which vanished over four years ago as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, was airworthy and the pilots were in a fit state to fly.

After years of fruitless searching in the world’s most enduring aviation mystery, the report offered nothing concrete to grieving relatives of passengers – most of whom were Chinese – and crew hoping for some sort of closure.

“The team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370,” concluded the largely technical 400-page report.

Relatives who were briefed at the transport ministry before the report’s public release expressed anger that there was nothing new in the document, with some storming out of the briefing as frustration boiled over.

“It is so disappointing,” said Intan Maizura Othman, whose husband was a steward on MH370. “I am frustrated. There is nothing new in the report.

“Those who gave the briefing from the ministry of transport were not able to give answers as they were not [the ones] who wrote the report.”

She said the meeting between relatives and officials descended into a “shouting match” as family members’ frustration boiled over.

“Many asked questions,” said G Subramaniam, who lost a son on the flight, but added that “unsatisfactory responses left many angry”.

The disappearance of MH370 triggered the largest hunt in aviation history. But no sign of the jet was found in a 120 000km2 Indian Ocean search zone and the Australian-led hunt was suspended in January last year.

US exploration firm Ocean Infinity resumed the search in a different location at the start of this year on a “no find, no fee” basis, using hi-tech drones to scour the seabed. But they also failed to find anything. – AFP