06 January 2016•Update: 07 January 2016
By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
The families of passengers who left Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 remain hopeful their next-of-kin are still alive, refusing to buy into the discovery of a wing part last year believed to be from the missing carrier.
On Wednesday, relatives of 154 Chinese passengers demanded the search operations be broadened and not ceased anytime soon, until actual aircraft debris from the main body of the airplane is recovered.
We believe our loved ones may still be alive, and are being held at an undisclosed location for "unknown reasons", they said in a joint statement.
“In the absence of proof to the contrary, we believe it is possible the missing may still be alive. If this is so, we would willingly grant to the perpetrators amnesty in return for the release of the missing,” it added.
The statement also saw them reject the official timeline of incidents that led to the discovery of a flaperon confirmed to be from MH370 in Le Reunion Island in July last year.
“We do not believe any of the series of official statements starting from March 24, 2014, up to and including that of September 3, 2015," the statement read.
“There is no real proof justifying any of these statements."
Beijing-bound MH370, which vanished an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 last year, was carrying 239 passengers and crew members, including 152 Chinese citizens.
The search and rescue mission which began immediately involved 65 aircraft and 95 vessels and experts from 25 countries.
After 10 months of intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, on Jan. 29 2015 Malaysia declared MH370 lost in an accident, killing all passengers.
On July 29, a piece of aircraft debris was found washed ashore on the French island, east of Madagascar. The debris believed to be from a Boeing 777, was sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis the following day.
Days after, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the flaperon was from MH370, and that the flight had indeed ended in the Indian Ocean.
