Families face worst nightmare of mid-air ordeal on MH370

KUALA LUMPUR — New revelations about a missing Malaysia Airlines plane have left anguished relatives contemplating the prospect that those on board endured a terrifying high-altitude hijack ordeal that may have lasted nearly eight hours.

But while the disclosures led to increased speculation of a terror plot or pilot suicide, for some they offered a glimmer of hope — that flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, may somehow have landed safely and that their loved ones may still be alive.

For relatives of Bob and Cathy Lawton, a missing Australian couple, the possibility of a terrifying drawn-out fate at thousands of feet reflected their deepest fears.

“That’s one of the worst things I could have hoped for,” Bob’s brother David Lawton told News Limited newspapers.

“Even if they are alive, what did they have to put up with?”

Prime Minister Najib Razak declined to use the word hijack when he briefed the press Saturday, but said new data suggested a “deliberate action” to divert the plane.

The Boeing 777′s communications appear to have been switched off manually before the jet veered westward and flew for hours.

What happened during that time remains a mystery. But one report of the plane fluctuating from low to high altitude fuelled fears the passengers may have been well aware they were in terrible danger.

The New York Times said the jet had reached 45,000 feet — above its approved altitude limit — before it “descended unevenly to 23,000 feet”.

It cited Malaysian military radar signals, but the data has not been confirmed by the authorities.

“At 45,000 feet, it may result in pressurisation problems,” said Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based independent aviation analyst.

“But we don’t know how the fluctuation went, whether it was gentle or violent and sharp. If it was gentle, only a few sensitive passengers would notice.”

China’s fury

For relatives in China, which had 153 citizens on the flight, the investigators’ breakthrough just brought more distress and frustration.

“We are experiencing an ordeal. We are still waiting for (more information),” said one tearful man emerging from a meeting between Malaysia Airlines and relatives in Beijing on Sunday morning.

“We are extremely anxious. A long time has passed and they don’t disclose (more) information,” he said.

Another branded the meeting “a joke”.

“Until they say what really and truly happened, what good is it?” he said.

Malaysian authorities have been severely criticized for failing to share information or for issuing contradictory statements.

China’s media made fresh criticism Sunday, saying Malaysia had “squandered” precious time and resources by releasing the dramatic information on the plane’s fate a full week after it vanished.

“It is undeniable that the disclosure of such vital information is painfully belated,” a scathing editorial by the state-run Xinhua news agency said, noting the “excruciating” seven days it entailed for relatives of the missing.

Clinging to hope

Yet for some the new evidence brought relief — and a reason for hope.

“Our family is relieved that there’s an official statement from the Malaysian government, delivered by the Malaysian prime minister, that there’s a possibility that the aircraft might have been hijacked,” said Indonesian Santi, 42, who goes by one name.

Her brother Sugianto Lo was on the flight with his wife Vinny Chynthya.

“There have been too many speculations about the missing plane so this official statement has helped to quash some of them.

“At least it gives us hope that our loved ones are still safe. We really hope that the various governments will help to look for the plane,” she said.

While the theory that the plane landed somewhere and has remained hidden is seen as highly improbable by experts, most do not discount it as impossible.

The multi-nation hunt is now focused on two vast areas, stretching from Kazakhstan to the southern Indian Ocean, with 25 countries searching for the plane.

Malaysian Subramaniam Gurusamy, 60, whose 34-year-old son Puspanathan Gurusamy was on board, refused to believe the worst.

“I am praying every day for divine help. I will not lose hope. I want to hear my son cry out ‘Father!” he said.

Selamat Umar, 60, also from Malaysia, placed his faith in his 29-year-old son Khairul Amrison’s ability to survive whatever he confronted.

He said the new evidence was “a good sign which shows the plane can be detected and the passengers are safe — if not all, then some”.

“It may be a hijack, but why have there been no demands?” he said.

Although so many questions remain, he is clinging to the belief that his son may one day come home.

“We are definitely worried about his safety but confident that those on the plane will do what they can to survive,” said Selamat.

“My son is a Muslim who fasts every Ramadan, so I am sure he has strength.”

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net

Malaysia says ‘mystified’ as no jet debris found

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia said Monday there is still no trace of wreckage from a jet that vanished with 239 people on board, deepening the anguish of relatives two days after the “mystifying” disappearance.

A potential breakthrough emerged Sunday when an aircraft scouring waters off southern Vietnam — part of an international search and rescue effort — spotted two objects authorities said could be debris from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

But Malaysian authorities said there was no confirmation they came from the Boeing 777 which slipped off radar screens early on Saturday, an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

“Unfortunately ladies and gentleman, we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft itself,” said Malaysia’s civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman.

“This unprecedented missing aircraft mystery — it is mystifying and we are increasing our efforts to do what we have to do,” he told a press conference.

Malaysia has launched a terror probe after at least two of the passengers on board were found to have travelled on stolen passports.

But Azharuddin had few answers to the burning questions surrounding the plane’s fate. Asked whether it was possible the plane had been hijacked or disintegrated mid-air, he said nothing could be ruled out.

“We are looking at every angle. We are looking at every aspect of what could have happened,” he said. “Again, we have to get concrete evidence… we have to find the aircraft.”

More than 150 Chinese are among the missing passengers and Beijing’s state media on Monday lashed out at Malaysia and its national carrier over their handling of the crisis.

“The Malaysian side cannot shirk its responsibilities,” the Global Times newspaper, which is close to the ruling Communist Party, wrote in a scathing editorial. “The initial response from Malaysia was not swift enough.”

China grief

At a Beijing hotel, Malaysian embassy officials were processing visa applications for families wanting to take up an airline offer to travel to Kuala Lumpur to be closer to the rescue operations.

Scores of relatives made their way into the room, some in groups of five or six, clutching handkerchiefs and wiping away tears from their faces.





Others said they would not go. “There is more we can do here in China,” one woman told AFP. “They haven’t even found the plane yet.”

A team of Chinese officials from government ministries headed for Malaysia on Monday, tasked with investigating the incident and helping family members already there.

As the search entered a third full day, other families of missing passengers gathered at a hotel in Malaysia’s administrative capital, Putrajaya, sharing breakfast as they stared intently at television news bulletins.

The search effort has zeroed in on waters off the remote Vietnamese island of Tho Chu, near where two large oil slicks — suspected to be caused by aircraft fuel — as well as the suspected debris were spotted on the weekend.

“All night we mobilized our most modern equipment for the search… but we found no sign of the objects,” Vice Admiral Ngo Van Phat told AFP of the hunt centred on Vietnam’s southwestern tip.

Tests on the oil slick that could indicate whether it came from the missing plane could be completed by later Monday, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency director general Amdan Kurish told AFP.

Malaysian authorities said they were also combing waters closer to their shores, further south of Tho Chu.

A total of 40 ships and 34 aircraft from an array of Southeast Asian countries, China and the United States have been involved in the search, with two Australian surveillance aircraft joining.

‘Asian features’
As they scramble to discover what happened, Malaysian officials have said there was a possibility that MH370 may have inexplicably turned back towards Kuala Lumpur.

The plane, captained by a veteran MAS pilot, had relayed no indications of distress, and weather at the time was said to be good.

Questions have also swirled over how at least two passengers boarded the jet on stolen passports, sparking an investigation into possible links with terrorism and a probe into the sale of passports in Thailand — where the documents were stolen over the past two years.

Two European names — Christian Kozel, an Austrian, and Luigi Maraldi of Italy — were listed on the passenger list, but neither man boarded the plane.

Malaysia’s Home Minister Zahid Hamidi reportedly said Sunday that the two passengers who did board using those passports looked Asian in appearance.

“I am still puzzled how come (immigration officers) cannot think: an Italian and Austrian but with Asian facial features,” Zahid was quoted as saying by Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama.

Interpol confirmed that “at least two passports” recorded in its Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database were used by passengers on the Malaysian flight.

The United States has sent an FBI team to help investigate the passengers, but US officials stressed there was as yet no evidence of terrorism.

Malaysia Airlines shares lost 10 percent in early trading Monday as the market reacted to the jet’s disappearance.

The incident is a massive blow for the carrier which has haemorrhaged cash for several years amid mounting competition from low-cost rivals such as AirAsia.

source: newsinfo.inquirer.net