Flight 370 families to search for debris
Print Edition
THE families of those onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 said yesterday they would mount a debris-hunting trip to Madagascar to search for clues to what happened to the missing plane.
Investigators have identified six pieces of wreckage to have either definitely or almost certainly come from the jet, which vanished with 239 people while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.
Voice 370, a family association, said the debris collected so far had all been found off Africa’s east coast.
“Despite these hugely important finds, there has been no systematic, organized search by any responsible party. This leaves the (next-of-kin) no other choice except to take it upon ourselves to do something to find answers and closure,” Voice 370 said.
A search in the southern Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have crashed, has been fruitless and could be suspended soon.
Grace Subathirai Nathan, whose mother Anne Daisy was on the flight, said she would be going to Madagascar with three other Malaysians, two Chinese and a French next-of-kin. She said the group was financing the December 3-11 trip from its own pockets.
The Voice 370 statement said the seven-member team would focus search efforts along high potential sites based on drift modeling, largely focusing in areas on and around Ile Saint Marie, a tropical island off Madagascar’s east coast.
The group said it might set up an incentive system using its own funds to encourage the search for debris, and would aim to set up a notification system and local collection point for potential aircraft debris.
So far, none of the six pieces of debris has helped to narrow down the precise location of the main underwater wreckage. Investigators need to find that to locate the flight data recorders that could help explain why the plane veered so far off course.
Search crews are expected to finish their sweep of the 120,000-square kilometer search zone in the Indian Ocean next month.
Malaysia, Australia and China said in July that the US$160 million hunt would be suspended once the current stretch of ocean was exhausted unless new evidence emerged.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
