08 March 2016•Update: 08 March 2016
By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Two years to the day since a Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared shortly after take off, the country has said it is awaiting permission to retrieve a second object that may have come from the missing airline.
On Tuesday, the Malaysian government said it has asked a French jury to allow its investigation team to retrieve presumed aircraft debris found on Reunion Island.
"We are waiting for a decision by a judge in France to decide on this, whether we can collect the debris or it must remain in France. I think we will receive a verdict in the next two days," he told reporters in Parliament on Tuesday.
Liow added that an investigation team has also arrived in Australia for detailed examination of aircraft debris found in Mozambique and Malaysia would work together with local authorities to verify the piece as soon as possible.
On Tuesday, the team investigating the disappearance of flight MH370 released its second interim report, on the second anniversary of its March 8, 2014 take off.
The three-page interim report was issued by the Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370, offering background details and probe details for the past two years.
"At this time, the Team is continuing to work towards finalising its analysis, findings/conclusions and safety recommendations on eight relevant areas associated with the disappearance of flight MH370 based on available information," the statement said.
These areas were listed as: "diversion from filed flight plan route; air traffic services operations; flight crew profile; airworthiness & maintenance and aircraft systems; satellite communications; wreckage and impact information (following the recovery and verification of a flaperon from the aircraft); organization and management information of the department of civil aviation, Malaysia and Malaysia Airlines; and aircraft cargo consignment."
MH370 vanished an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport carrying 239 passengers and crew, including 152 Chinese citizens.
The search and rescue mission -- which began immediately -- involved some 160 assets inclusive of 65 aircraft and 95 vessels as well as experts from 25 countries.
After 10 months of intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, on Jan. 29, 2015 Malaysia declared that MH370 was lost in an accident, killing all passengers.
On July 29 last year, a piece of aircraft debris was found washed ashore on the French island, east of Madagascar.
The debris -- believed to be from a Boeing 777 -- was sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis the following day.
Days after, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the flaperon was from MH370, and that the flight had indeed ended in the Indian Ocean.
Although around 52 families of those on board have filed lawsuits claiming government negligence, some still believe their relatives are alive.
On Feb. 6, relatives of 154 Chinese passengers released a joint statement saying they believe they may be being held at an undisclosed location for "unknown reasons".
“In the absence of proof to the contrary, we believe it is possible the missing may still be alive. If this is so, we would willingly grant to the perpetrators amnesty in return for the release of the missing,” it added.
