MH370 Victims' Families Express Outrage, Accuse Officials Of Lies
On Sunday, Malaysia Airlines held a daily briefing in Beijing for the media and families with ties to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 — at which families began to outwardly express frustration and thinning patience. One man told officials that the families have already lost faith.
"A liar can lie once, twice, or three times, but whats the point [to] keep lying? What we ask for is the truth." The man asked people in the room to stand if they had lost trust in the airline and the government, and a majority of the room stood. One man was restrained after rushing to the front of the room and attempted to punch an official. 154 of the passengers on flight 370 are Chinese.
Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua also issued a highly critical editorial. "Massive efforts have been squandered, numerous rumors have been spawned, repeatedly racking the nerves of awaiting families." I would argue that it's the media itself who spawned those rumors.
Malaysia Airlines issued a statement defending the delay of information sharing. "
Given the nature of the situation and its extreme sensitivity, it was critical that the raw satellite signals were verified and analyzed by the relevant authorities so that their significance could be properly understood. This naturally took some time, during which we were unable to publicly confirm their existence." The airline also mentioned how unique the case was, because never before have satellite signals been used to locate a missing commercial plane.
The expanded scope of the search, along with the number of parties involved, is proving to be problematic. Malaysia Transportation Minister said, "The number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation has increased from 14 to 25, which brings new challenges of coordination and diplomacy to the search effort. Meanwhile, U.S. officials are becoming more certain that the pilots of flight 370 were involved in the plane's disappearance.
The home of Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the flight's captain, has been searched, resulting in the confiscation of a flight simulator. That in itself shouldn't alarm anyone, as plenty of aviation enthusiasts have flight simulators set up in their homes. Items were also confiscated from the home of First Officer Fariq Ab Hamid.
Now, as authorities try to coordinate their efforts, and connect the dots between the pilots, the passengers traveling with stolen passports, and the satellite tracking data, the world continues to wait for answers.
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