Some 500 people gathered on Sunday March 3 near Kuala Lumpur for a “day of remembrance” in memory of the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014, and to demand new searches.
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In Malaysia, it is in the middle of a department store that the relatives of the victims of missing flight MH370 organized this commemoration to also attract the attention of passers-by. On March 8, 2014, the plane operating the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route had disappeared. Although some debris appearing to belong to it was subsequently recovered in the Indian Ocean, no trace of the 239 people on board, two thirds of whom were Chinese, was found.
For this day of remembrance, debris was exposed. “ Research must continue “, said Liu Shuangfong, one of the few Chinese who traveled for this commemoration. “ Who wants to see their loved ones summarized by letters and numbers? ”, read the Malaysian poet, Julian Matthews, who wrote a text especially for the occasion.
Many Malaysians stopped in front of the posters near the stage where relatives of the victims took turns to speak, reports our correspondent in Kuala Lampur, Juliette Pietraszewski. Some passers-by wrote messages of support for the victims’ loved ones on puzzle pieces.
Maintain hope of knowing the truth
“ The last ten years have been a non-stop emotional roller coaster for me “, underlined Grace Nathan, a 36-year-old Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, 56, was on board the plane. Addressing the crowd, she called on the Malaysian government to conduct further research. “ Flight MH370 is not ancient history “, she said. Liu Shuangfong, 67, from the Chinese province of Hebei, lost her 28-year-old son, Li Yanlin, a passenger on flight MH370. “ I demand justice for my son. Where is the plane? “, she asked.
The families of the missing will especially remember the speech of the Malaysian Minister of Transport, who was there for the occasion. The latter declared that he was ready to meet Ocean Infinity, the American private company who had already done research to find the plane, to discuss resuming the search for MH. This announcement from the Malaysian Minister of Transport gave way to applause from relatives, who still hope to one day know the truth. “ Malaysia is determined to find the plane. Cost is not the issue », Assured Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke to journalists.
The greatest mystery in aviation
The causes of this disappearance, the greatest mystery of modern civil aviation, are the subject multiple speculations. Different theories – suicide of the pilot, accident at sea or missile launch – have been put forward over the years to try to explain this disappearance, described as “ almost inconceivable » by the Australian investigators who coordinated the initial research. These maritime searches, lasting almost three years over 120,000 km² in the Indian Ocean, the most important in history, were interrupted in January 2017. Many victims’ relatives accuse Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia of hiding information, which those concerned dispute.