Families told of MH370 declaration before official announcement: MAS

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia Airlines said it had notified all the families and relatives of passengers on board flight MH370 ahead of the government’s official announcement on Thursday (Jan 29) to declare the plane lost in an accident and all those on it dead.

The airlines said this in a statement in response to claims by the next-of-kin of the passengers and crew that the government had mishandled the announcement and was insensitive by not informing them of the declaration first before making it public.

“All next-of-kin were notified via telephone calls and, in certain instances, by text messages, when the calls were unanswered.

“These were done personally by its Family Support Centre, caregivers or representatives from the airline’s regional offices,” the airline said in the statement, adding that these steps were done before the scheduled announcement by the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia (DCA) on Thursday.

The airlines said the next-of-kin in China were informed by text messages send by its Family Communications and Support Centre in Beijing.

“Together with the Government of Malaysia and its related agencies, the airline will continue to organise engagement sessions with family members to discuss various matters related to the declaration,” it said.

On Friday night after the DCA’s live telecast announcement at 6pm, angry relatives and family members lashed out at Putrajaya for being uncaring and callous in their handling of the situation.

The announcement was initially scheduled for the afternoon and some family members had gathered to wait for it with the press.

But it was postponed, citing the presence of next-of-kin at the press conference venue as a reason.

Angry relatives then took to task the government committee that was formed specifically to deal with them for failing to liaise with the families.

“We have not heard a single word from the committee despite their express purpose being to correspond with and keep the next-of-kin updated,” said Ms Grace Subathirai, the daughter of passenger Anne Daisy had said.

“Putrajaya has shown absolutely no respect at all to the families and next-of-kin,” she said.

Ms Kelly Wen, the wife of Chinese passenger Li, said she had checked with the Chinese embassy and the office of Transport Minister Liow Tiong La and both had told her that there were no imminent announcements.

She also said the timing of the announcement was inconsiderate, given that most of the MH370 victims were Chinese, and the Chinese New Year was just around the corner.

Together with Ms Wen, another next-of-kin, Ms Jacquita Gonzales, said they could not accept the declaration without any evidence of the plane or bodies.

MH370, with 239 passengers and crew onboard, disappeared from radar on March 8 last year, less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. It lost contact with air traffic control over Vietnam and was later found to have made a sharp about-turn, heading back across Peninsular Malaysia and over the tip of Sumatra, before going south towards the southern Indian Ocean where it is believed to have ended.

In the early days of the plane’s disappearance, Malaysia was severely criticised for its handling of information and communications about the event.

Malaysia’s declaration on the plane was made to enable the next-of-kin to begin the process of claiming compensation and fulfilling other legal matters. The government has also stated that the announcement has no impact on the on-going search for the plane. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER