KUALA LUMPUR
By Chan Kok Leong
As Day 12 arrived and hopes of finding Malaysia Airlines MH370 continued to dim, the normally pedestrian evening press conferences by authorities on efforts to find the plane were brought to life when two women emerged unannounced.
Two Chinese females, one wearing a surgical mask, appeared just before acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein was due to speak with a banner in Mandarin demanding answers from the Malaysian authorities.
One of the women, who said her name was Li Er, said that she was a mother and just wanted her son to come home.
“They tell us the same news every day,” added the second woman in Mandarin. “Please help us go complain to the Malaysian government. We want information. We want the plane back.”
The women said they were dissatisfied with what the Malaysian authorities were doing.
“First they search the Chinese sea (South China Sea) then they go to the Andaman Sea. They don’t know where the plane has flown to,” the second woman added.
When asked about assistance rendered by the authorities, she said that they did not care about that and only wanted the plane to be found.
“The Malaysian government is lying to us,” she cried.
Police and security escorted the two women from the room.
On Tuesday, Chinese relatives of some of the MH370 passengers vented their frustration in Beijing with how the Malaysian authorities were handling the case, and even threatened to go on hunger strike.
With the women removed, acting transport minister Hussein said that some data had been erased from a flight simulator that was taken from MH370 pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s home.
“Some data has already been deleted and the forensic experts are now working to recover this data,” he said.
Malaysia’s search for the missing Boeing 777-200ER was expanded from 14 countries to 25 covering an area stretching from the south of the Indian Ocean to Central Asia on Sunday.
Flight MH370 went missing after losing radio contact with Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8.
The Beijing-bound flight was carrying 239 passengers including 12-flight crew from 14 different countries.
The aircraft is now believed to have turned back from its original flight path and followed a route between navigational waypoints (aviation corridors) N571 and P628.
N571 or waypoint Vampi is used by commercial airplanes traveling to the Middle East while P628 or waypoint Igrex is used to fly to Europe.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
