Flight MH370: Chinese families fly to Kuala Lumpur to seek answers

Chinese families of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane passengers have flown to Kuala Lumpur to seek answers from the Malaysian authorities.

The relatives say they have not been given enough information, and want to meet Malaysia’s prime minister and transport minister face to face.

Ten planes and eight ships are looking for remains of the airliner in a vast area of the Indian Ocean.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board.

Some relatives of the flight’s 153 Chinese passengers have refused to accept the Malaysian account of events and have accused the authorities of withholding information.

After landing at Kuala Lumpur they vented their frustration at a news conference chanting “We want proof”, and holding banners reading “Hand over the murderer” and “You must return the relatives”.

They have vented their anger at officials during regular briefings by Malaysian officials at a hotel in Beijing.

Malaysia’s acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Saturday that the search for survivors would continue.

Malaysian officials have concluded that, based on satellite data, the missing plane flew into the sea somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. So far no trace of it has been found.

A Chinese and an Australian ship failed to identify debris from the missing flight after their first day in a new search area, about 1,150 miles west of Perth, on Saturday.

Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 and Australia’s HMAS Success both retrieved objects but none was confirmed to be from flight MH370, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said in a statement.

Some of the objects have been very small, and officials have cautioned that they may be sea junk.

Aircraft involved in the search have so far reported seeing a number of objects of various colors floating in the sea in the new area since Friday.

Poor conditions have hampered recent search efforts.

An Australian vessel carrying a US device known as a “towed pinger locator” is due to join the search in the coming days.

The device is designed to detect any ultrasonic signals – “pings” – from flight recorders and can operate up to a depth of about 6,000 m.

But the search area is huge – covering some 123,000 sq miles – and time is running short. The flight recorders’ batteries are expected to run out in about a week’s time.

The current search area is about 700 miles north-east of the previous zone.

Officials said the focus changed after radar data showed the plane had been travelling faster than previously thought, thus burning more fuel.

This would reduce the possible distance the aircraft travelled south.

Various theories about what went wrong have been suggested – including the captain hijacking his own plane.

The speculation was fuelled by reports that files had been deleted on the pilot’s home flight simulator.

However, on Saturday, Malaysia’s transport minister said investigators had found “nothing sinister” from the simulator.

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 vanished less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

The airliner diverted off course and lost contact with air traffic controllers between Malaysian and Vietnamese air-traffic control areas.