Malaysia flight MH370: Chinese families vent anger
The BBC's Jennifer Pak: "Family members have come here for answers"
Relatives
of Chinese passengers from the missing Malaysian plane have vented
their anger at government officials, after arriving in Kuala Lumpur.
Eight ships and nine planes searched around 252,000 sq km (97,000 sq miles) of ocean for debris on Sunday.
The Beijing-bound plane disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.
International investigators have concluded that, based on satellite data, the missing Boeing 777 crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.
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The new arrivals are being carefully guarded. Blue-shirted
volunteers chaperone them to and from meetings. There are security
guards dotted around their hotel, and at the airport this morning a
welcoming party, including a local politician, was left standing as the
families were whisked away from a hidden exit.
But the message these families have brought won't be so easy to manage. At a brief press conference, they unfurled a banner which accused the Malaysian government of speculation and "trampling on innocent lives".
Many relatives accuse the Malaysian authorities of misinformation and secrecy. With no sign of flight MH370 or its passengers, their worn faces have become the most visible symbols of this mystery.
And their frustration won't be easy for the government to deal with.
At the scene
But the message these families have brought won't be so easy to manage. At a brief press conference, they unfurled a banner which accused the Malaysian government of speculation and "trampling on innocent lives".
Many relatives accuse the Malaysian authorities of misinformation and secrecy. With no sign of flight MH370 or its passengers, their worn faces have become the most visible symbols of this mystery.
And their frustration won't be easy for the government to deal with.
The search zone shifted on Friday
after further analysis. But while aircraft continue to spot debris in
the water, nothing recovered by ships has so far been verified as being
from the plane.
On Sunday, several dozen family members travelled from Beijing.
After landing in Kuala Lumpur they held a news conference at a hotel holding up banners that read "We want evidence, truth, dignity" in Chinese, and "Hand us the murderer. Give us our relatives," in English.
Their designated representative, Jiang Hui, said they wanted the Malaysian government to apologise for the initial handling of the disaster, as well as for Prime Minister Najib Razak's earlier statement that indicated the plane had crashed with no survivors.
He said the conclusion had been announced "without direct evidence or a sense of responsibility".
He said the group wanted to meet airline and government officials face to face - although he stopped short of saying that these included Mr Najib, as some relatives had earlier suggested.
None of the objects retrieved by Haixun 01 or HMAS Success is thought to be from the missing plane
Before the relatives travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's
acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the search for
survivors would continue."The hardest part of my job is to see the families," he said. "I've always said we are hoping against hope that we will find survivors."
On Sunday, Malaysian officials cancelled their daily update on the search for a second day.
The objects recovered by Australian naval ship HMAS Success and China's Haixun 01 on Saturday had been examined and were thought to be fishing equipment and other flotsam, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said in a statement.
The BBC's Jon Donnison explains how a "towed pinger locator" is used
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MH370 - Facts at a glance
- 8 March - Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight carrying 239 people disappears
- Plane's transponder, which gives out location data, was switched off as it left Malaysian airspace
- Satellite 'pings' indicate plane was still flying seven hours after satellite contact was lost
- 24 March - Based on new calculations, Malaysian PM says "beyond reasonable doubt" that plane crashed in southern Indian Ocean with no survivors
An Australian vessel carrying a US device known as a "towed pinger locator" is due to join the search in the coming days.
The device is designed to detect any ultrasonic signals -
"pings" - from flight recorders and can operate up to a depth of about
6,000m.But the search area is huge - covering some 319,000 sq km (123,000 sq miles) - and time is running short. The flight recorders' batteries are expected to run out in about a week's time.
The current search area is about 1,100km (700 miles) north-east of the previous zone.
Officials said the focus changed after radar data showed the plane had been travelling faster than previously thought, thus burning more fuel and reducing the distance the aircraft could have travelled.
Various theories about what went wrong have been suggested - including the captain hijacking his own plane.
The speculation was fuelled by reports that files had been deleted on the pilot's home flight simulator.
However on Saturday Malaysia's transport minister said investigators had found "nothing sinister" from the simulator.
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 vanished less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
The airliner diverted off course and lost contact with air traffic controllers between Malaysian and Vietnamese air-traffic control areas.
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