MH370 families to raise funds to conduct private search

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

The next-of-kins of passengers from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are seeking to raise over $15 million to conduct a private search for the missing aircraft, after the official campaign was called off in January.

The representatives of Voice MH370 -- a next-of-kin support group -- told reporters at a remembrance event organized Saturday that the families were currently talking to aircraft search experts and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) to seek assistance to continue the search operations for the airplane which vanished on March 8, 2014.

Grace Nathan, the daughter of Anne Daisy --who was a MH370 passenger -- said the group had begun talks with David Gallo, the world's leading oceanographer who found Air France Flight 447 in 2011.

"We are already talking to experts. One is David Gallo who found Air France. We are speaking to ATSB and all say that they will support us," she said.

"We have gotten some positive responses and we are now working on the preliminary timeline. So, we hope that will shape up more in days to come."

She said the families of the MH370 passengers and crew had yet to iron out the details of the fund and its purported use, as they first wanted to get a comprehensive plan in place with the support of the Australian, Chinese and Malaysian governments.

"We want to be sure that the governments are not going to resume the search, so that the private search operation don't clash with it," Nathan said.

In January, a tripartite committee comprising of China, Australia and Malaysia decided to cease MH370 search operations immediately after completing the earmarked 120,000-square kilometer (46,332 miles) search area in the Indian Ocean.

Beijing-bound Flight MH370 disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board.

The jetliner has yet to be found despite massive search operations in the southern Indian Ocean where the aircraft was believed to have ended its flight after diverting from its original route.

The search and rescue mission -- which began immediately after the incident-- involved some 160 assets as well as experts from 25 countries.

To date, at least six pieces of aircraft debris found along Africa's east coast have been confirmed as originating from MH370.