High-level briefing for families of passengers on board MH370
Families of passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be given a comprehensive high-level briefing soon, which will include input from aviation experts, said Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (pic, centre).
He said the high level briefings would be held for the families of passengers currently in Kuala Lumpur. Yesterday a group of families arrived from Beijing.
"The briefing will include international experts who were not available during the briefings in Beijing, including experts from China. It will also be broadcast live to other families in Beijing," Hishammuddin said.
"The briefing will provide an opportunity for the families to hear directly from some of these experts. The experts will be able to explain the research, the data and the methodology that have informed the search operation."
Hishammuddin met with family members, both local and foreign, on Saturday and he described it as the most difficult meeting he had ever attended.
"The families are heartbroken. For many, the strain over the past few weeks has been unbearable."
"But the constant message which I received from the families was that Malaysia must not give up hope in locating MH370," he told reporters at the Putra World Trade Centre today.
"We do not have the answers to the questions which they frequently ask, which is where are their loved ones," Hishammuddin said.
Hishammuddin said he had made a promise to the family members and relatives that he would not give up hope of locating MH370.
"Malaysia will keep its promise. We will continue searching, and we will keep investigating, and we will never give up until we find out what happened to MH370," he said.
"We understand that it has been a difficult time for all the families involved," Hishammuddin said.
"We also appreciate that many families want to see physical evidence before they accept that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."
Hishammuddin said authorities were in a difficult position as the questions which families principally wanted answered, where their loved ones are and where is MH370, are the ones for which they did not have the answers.
He said the high-level briefing for the families in Kuala Lumpur would be held soon.
"The briefing will include international experts who were not available during the briefings in Beijing, including experts from China."
"It will also be broadcast live to other families in Beijing," he said.
The briefing will provide an opportunity for the families to hear directly from some of these experts.
Meanwhile, Hishammuddin also clarified the statement which was made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on March 24.
"Najib said that based on data provided by satellite company Inmarsat and the UK's Air Accidents Investigations Branch (AAIB), MH370 is presumed to have ended its journey in the Indian Ocean."
Hishammuddin said Najib had never mentioned anything about MH370 crashing or whether or not there were survivors.
"Najib merely mentioned that data showed that MH370 had flown along the southern corridor and its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean." – March 31, 2014.
