KUALA LUMPUR: For the first time ever, two pieces of debris from the missing jetliner Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went on display today.
The flap and wing fragments were shown at the MH370 Remembrance Event to commemorate the fifth anniversary since the aircraft went missing.
To date, only three wing fragments, known as the flaperon, have been confirmed to be from the Flight MH370 which vanished mysteriously from the radar screen while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.
Jacquita Gonzales, 56, wife of MH370’s inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, said she was glad to see the display, but added that the search for the plane should continue.
“The debris are just fragments from the aircraft. It is not MH370.
“We don’t know where the plane is. We need to keep searching.
“We hope the government will continue the search with a no cure no fee policy so that an independent searching entity can start their search, especially (United States-based exploration company) Ocean Infinity.”
Norazlinda Ayub, 44, wife of passenger Junaidi Mohd Nasir, said the fragments were bigger than she had imagined.
“There must be more to be found out there. I hope the search will be continued.”
K.S. Narandran, husband of Chandrika Sharma, one of the five Indian nationals onboard the missing plane, said the government should continue the search and look for any credible evidence to locate the Boeing 777 passenger jetliner.
“After five years, the plane has yet to be found.
“I find it very hard to just forget this and get on with my life.
“I don’t know about the government, but I know they have a responsibility. It’s frustrating for everyone (not knowing where aircraft is).”
Jiang Hui, whose mother Jiang Cuiyun was on board the plane, has created MH370.com.cn and www.malaysiaairlines.club to promote the search, investigate, collect information and communicate with other next-of-kin.
The deep-sea mission to locate the missing Boeing 777 in the Indian Ocean, spanning 120,000 sq km, involved Australia, China and Malaysia. It lasted for almost three years and ended without success.
It was reported that 27 pieces of aircraft debris have been collected from various places around the world.
Ocean Infinity, which conducted the last attempt to look for MH370 in the Indian Ocean, ended its mission on May 29 last year after failing to find any debris.
Last July, the MH370 Safety Investigation Team, in its 449-page report, concluded that they were unable to determine the real cause of the disappearance of the ill-fated flight, but did not rule out the possibility that “unlawful interference” by a third party could have caused the incident.
On Nov 30 last year, five pieces of debris found at three locations in Madagascar, believed to be from MH370, were handed over to the Malaysian government. - Bernama