Union slams MAS for abandoning families of MH370 crew

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s National Union of Flight Attendants (Nufam) yesterday criticised Malaysia Airlines (MAS) for terminating its caregiver services to families of the crew from missing flight MH370 after they sought legal recourse, pressing the carrier to re-establish support to the families.

The families held a hastily-called press conference on Saturday, saying MAS had “abandoned” them because they had engaged American law firm Ribbeck Law for legal assistance. They added that MAS had also ceased services of the caregivers who had been assigned to them to provide emotional support.

Nufam president Ismail Nasaruddinyesterday described the airline’s action to terminate caregiver support as irresponsible and heartless, saying MAS could not cut itself off from the grieving families simply because they had sought legal advice.

“It is in their rights to get lawyers and they are not even talking about compensations yet. There is still no closure, so they must continue the services,” said Mr Ismail as quoted by the Malay Mail.

Flight MH370, which was carrying 239 people, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8. No wreckage from the plane has been found despite a continuing international search focused on the southern Indian Ocean.

At Saturday’s press conference, Ms Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of inflight supervisor Patrick Francis Gomes, said the families of seven of the 12 crew members who had sought legal assistance had been told by the airline that its caregivers would cease all communication with the families, according to an email sent to them on Friday.

MAS had also told the families to get their lawyers to deal with the airline’s legal team for all requests related to the missing jet.

Ms Gonzales said this happened after MAS got wind that the families had hired a legal adviser. “(The caregivers’) roles are very important. They were there to feed us updates on the search-and-rescue mission carried out in finding the missing jet. They are also our support system — a shoulder to cry on,” she added.

Mr Ismail yesterday questioned Malaysia Airlines System Employees Union (Maseu) over its inaction and urged the government to intervene as the families have no one else to turn to.

“It is shameful to see how it can just wash its hands off and act as if nothing happened. This is so irresponsible of MAS,” he said.

Separately, some families of the missing plane’s passengers also criticised the release of the first book on the saga, saying the publication was premature and its claims that the plane was accidentally shot down were speculation.

“Nobody knows what happened, so why would anyone want to put out a book at this stage?” Ms Irene Burrows, an Australian whose son and daughter-in-law had been on the flight, told Fairfax Media.

The conjectural book by London-based author Nigel Cawthorne, titled Flight MH370: The Mystery, reportedly claims that the plane might have accidentally been shot down during joint United States-Thai military exercises in the South China Sea and that the search might have been led astray as part of a cover-up.

The book, published this month by John Blake Publishing in London, is being released less than 11 weeks after the jet’s disappearance.

“There are so many theories that I want to believe only one — that they were all unconscious and didn’t know what was going on ... That keeps me sane. All I want is for somebody to find a bit of plane,” said Ms Burrows.

A film, The Vanishing Act, loosely based on the ordeal, is also reportedly being produced, with Rupesh Paul Productions promoting a trailer at the Cannes Film Festival. The producers hope to make the movie in India and the US before releasing it in September. AP