Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Day 43 April 21 , 2014 -- Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainuddin met with the passengers’ relatives in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to talk about where to go next. Financial assistance was discussed and family members were urged to submit a plan for consideration. He declined to elaborate further, but said a fund could possibly be set up by the government or Malaysia Airlines. The relatives, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the meeting, saying in a statement that until they have “at least a tiny bit of concrete evidence” that the plane crashed, authorities should not try to settle the case with final payoffs........

21 April 2014| last updated at 09:31AM

MH370 Tragedy: Passengers' relatives talk financial help

 0  0 Google +0  0 0 comments

PERTH (Australia): As the search continued off the coast of Australia for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, the airline announced another plane bound for India was forced to make an emergency landing early Monday after one of its tires burst on takeoff.

All 159 passengers and seven crew members arrived safely back in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, about 2 am, about four hours after the plane took off for Bangalore, India. The incident was more drama for an airline already under immense pressure for answers from the public and the families of those missing from Flight 370, more than six weeks after it departed the same airport.   

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainuddin met with the passengers’ relatives in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to talk about where to go next. Financial assistance was discussed and family members were urged to submit a plan for consideration. He declined to elaborate further, but said a fund could possibly be set up by the government or Malaysia Airlines.  

The relatives, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the meeting, saying in a statement that until they have “at least a tiny bit of concrete evidence” that the plane crashed, authorities should not try to settle the case with final payoffs.  

“No meaningful report on the progress of the investigation was given” at the meeting, the relatives said, adding that “not a single one” of their questions was answered.  

“We realise this is an excruciating time for the families of those on board,” said Zainuddin, who heads a committee overseeing the needs of the next of kin. “No words can describe the pain they must be going through. We understand the desperate need for information on behalf of the families and those watching around the world.”  

He added that he would soon visit Beijing to shore up bilateral relations between Malaysia and China. Two-thirds of the missing plane’s 227 passengers were Chinese, and many of their family members have been angered by Malaysia’s handling of the investigation, with some accusing the government of lying, incompetence or participating in an outright cover-up.  

After nearly a week of sweeping the bottom of the ocean with sonar, a robotic submarine continued it search. The yellow device has already covered about half of its focused search area, but has yet to uncover any clues that could shed light on the mysterious disappearance.  

The US Navy’s Bluefin 21 has journeyed beyond its recommended depth of 4 1/2 kilometres (2.8 miles) to comb the silt-covered seabed off the coast of western Australia. Its search area forms a 10-kilometer (6-mile) radius around the location of an underwater signal that was believed to have come from the aircraft’s black boxes. The search center said the sonar scan of the seafloor in that area was expected to be completed sometime next week.   

Malaysian Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has stressed the importance of the weekend submarine missions in the southern Indian Ocean, but added that even if no debris was recovered, the scope of the search may be broadened or other assets may be used.  

Radar and satellite data show the jet mysteriously veered far off course for unknown reasons and would have run out of fuel in the remote section of the southern Indian Ocean where the search has been focused. Not one piece of debris has been recovered since the massive multinational hunt began.  

There have been numerous leads, but all have turned out to be false. The most promising development came when four underwater signals were detected April 5 and 8. The sounds were consistent with pings that would have been emanating from the plane’s flight data and cockpit recorders’ beacons before their batteries died.   

The search coordination center has said the hunt for floating debris on the surface will continue for at least the next few days, even though the Australian head of the search effort, Angus Houston, had earlier said it was expected to end sooner.  -- AP

Malaysia Chronicle.....

Search for MH370 now in 20km circle

• font size   
• Print 
• E-mail 
• Comments (0)

Rate this item

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

(0 votes)

A CIRCLE 20km across on the sea floor off Western Australia remains the best hope of finding the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

So far the unmanned mini-submarine Bluefin-21 has searched half of that 320sq km of seabed in water that is more than 4.5km deep in places.

-www.theaustralian.com.au

MORE TO COME

Star Online......

Published: Sunday April 20, 2014 MYT 4:18:00 PM
Updated: Sunday April 20, 2014 MYT 4:53:22 PM

MH370 search: MAS to provide financial assistance to families

BY NICHOLAS CHENG

  

Email

Facebook 23

KUALA LUMPUR: The families of the passengers and crew of flight MH370 will receive financial assistance from Malaysia Airlines to ease their burdens, said Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin (pic).

Hamzah, who heads the sub-committee focusing on the next-of-kin, said that the process to identify those who would receive the assistance started two weeks ago.

The assistance would come solely from MAS, with the Government only stepping in to bear some of the costs if there is a need for it.

During a briefing with the families at the Royale Chulan Hotel on Sunday, Hamzah said the families have been requested to submit their own amounts for financial assistance.

"Some of the families have lost their breadwinners and may be facing financial difficulties. 

"Those affected will all receive some form of financial assistance from MAS.

"However, when the assistance will be given will be determined at a later date as we have recipients from 15 different countries, " he told reporters.

He added that two Malaysian representatives were in talks with the families in China regarding financial assistance, with MCA vice-president Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun expected to fly to Beijing to speak to the next-of-kin as well.

Selamat Omar, 60, the father of aviation engineer Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, said he was grateful for the Government's offer. 

MH370: two-thirds of focused search now complete with no sign of debris

Australia’s joint co-ordination centre says Bluefin-21 submersible has finished eight missions looking for the missing plane

• Share51
• inShare3
• Email

• Paul Farrell in Perth
• theguardian.com, Monday 21 April 2014 00.02 EDT
• Jump to comments (67)

The Bluefin-21 is lifted on to the deck of the Ocean Shield after completing a search mission for flight MH370 on Sunday. Photograph: Department of Defence/Imago/Barcroft Media

Two-thirds of the focused underwater search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight has now been completed, with no sightings of wreckage or debris.

Australia’s joint co-ordination centre said on Monday that the underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 had completed eight missions looking for the missing plane, but that “no contacts of interest have been found to date”.

The underwater search is focused on the area where the second of a series of pings, believed to be from the plane’s black box, were detected weeks ago.

But the mission has been plagued by difficulties, with the Bluefin-21 forced to surface early from missions twice, once because of a technical issue. The submersible has been operating slightly deeper than 4,500m below sea level to scour the ocean floor using sonar.

Tony Abbott, Australia’s prime minister, said in an interview last week that authorities would reconsider the operation if nothing was found after the focused search had been completed.

Weather conditions may also be problematic, with conditions expected to deteriorate as tropical cyclone Jack continues south.

The New Straits Times has reported that Malaysia and Australia are preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding covering aspects of the plane’s recovery. The agreement will outline the responsibility of each country and who will handle any wreckage.

Monday, 21 April 2014 17:56

'WHAT WAS STOLEN & WHAT WAS TO BE BROUGHT TO CHINA', Anwar presses Najib to reveal MH370 cargo

• font size   
• Print 
• E-mail 
• Comments (6)

Rate this item

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

(10 votes)

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim continues to criticise the government over MH370, claiming that there is a lack of transparency.

Despite coming under fire from government officials who accused him of trying to gain political mileage out of this incident, Anwar has raised the issue again.

"How long does the government and MAS want to withhold information? Why are they afraid?” he asked during the Reformasi rally in Ipoh last night.

"What was stolen and what was to be brought to China? (Prime Minister) Najib Abdul Razak, please tell us," PKR organ Keadilan Daily quoted him as saying.

Anwar was referring to the Beijing-bound flight's cargo manifest.

Since the plane went missing on March 8, there have been a slew of conspiracy theories, which included the Boeing 777 being taken to the US military base Diego Garcia.

However, the authorities have dismissed the speculation.

MAS has to date only revealed the aircraft had carried three to four tonnes of mangosteens and 200kg of lithium-ion batteries.

But it has refused to reveal the full cargo manifest, insisting that it cannot be done because the investigation is ongoing. -Malaysiakini