MALAYSIA-AIRLINES/CHINA-FAMILY REAX Relative of Chinese MH370 passenger says needs more evidence

Record ID: 144939

  • Title: MALAYSIA-AIRLINES/CHINA-FAMILY REAX Relative of Chinese MH370 passenger says needs more evidence
  • Date: 5th August 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) SON OF MH370 PASSENGER, JIANG HUI, SAYING: "Just with this piece of wreckage, the only piece of wreckage (found), it's a clue. But I think it can never prove the two things that I want (to know). First, where are the people? Second, where is the plane? Perhaps we can conclude from this debris that the plane crashed into the ocean, but I hope that the
  • Embargoed: 20th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA55JM6HAV2OOM4JAT518IZ16R7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A relative of a Chinese passenger aboard a missing Malaysian plane said he wanted more proof from authorities on the fate of the plane and its passengers.
    Jiang Hui, whose mother was aboard the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, said on Thursday (August 6) that he needed more evidence before he could believe a statement from Malaysia that a recovered piece of wreckage does belong to the missing flight.
    Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in an early morning television address that a piece of a wing that washed up on an Indian Ocean island beach last week was part of the wreckage of light MH370, confirming the discovery of the first trace of the plane since it vanished last year.
    The announcement, by providing the first direct evidence that the plane crashed in the ocean, closes a chapter in one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history but still gives families of the 239 victims, most of them Chinese, little clue as to why.
    Jiang, who is also a member of a committee for Chinese family members in Beijing, said that he needed more details about the investigation before he could believe the wreckage belongs to the disappeared aircraft.
    "Just with this piece of wreckage, the only piece of wreckage (found), it's a clue. But I think it can never prove the two things that I want (to know). First, where are the people? Second, where is the plane? Perhaps we can conclude from this debris that the plane crashed into the ocean, but I hope that they can use some scientific methodology to rule out the possibilities that this debris was artificially made, or that it was intentionally put there," he said.
    Jiang said that he was disappointed in Malaysia's investigation into the flight's disappearance, mentioning how he and other family members have been left uninformed up until this point.
    "An open, just investigation, should be priority before the search and rescue. After a year and a half, no one in Malaysia has been called upon to take up the task, and the investigation has not seen any progression at all, to the point that they haven't revealed anything to the family members. This kind of closed, unjust, and totally inefficient investigation is really hard for me to understand," said Jiang.
    Jiang said that for his next step, if possible, he hoped that he could visit Reunion Island and look into the investigation process. He added that Malaysian authorities' conclusion is only the "beginning" for family members searching for their loved ones and not a closure.
    "Using Using the evidence that this debris provides, (authorities might) be able to find the plane, or even the people," he said.
    "This is just a beginning, it's not an ending," Jiang added.
    Jiang said that he and several other family members plan to continue to visit the Malaysian Airlines' office in Beijing, as they have been provided with no details into the current investigation of the piece of wreckage.
    The fragment of wing known as a flaperon was flown to mainland France after being found last week covered in barnacles on a beach on France's Indian Ocean island of Reunion.
    Despite the Malaysian confirmation it was part of MH370, prosecutors in France, where it was still Wednesday (August 5) evening, stopped short of declaring they were certain, though they said there was a very strong likelihood it was the case. A piece of luggage also found in Reunion would be examined by French police, they said.
    In January, Malaysia Airlines officially declared the disappearance an accident, clearing the way for the carrier to pay compensation to relatives while the search goes on.
    A $90 million hunt along a rugged 60,000 sq km patch of sea floor 1,600 km (1,000 miles) west of the Australian city of Perth has yielded nothing.
    The search has been extended to another 60,000 sq km (23,000 sq miles) and Malaysian and Australian authorities say this will cover 95 percent of MH370's flight path.
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