Families of the 239 people on board missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 yesterday marked the anniversary of the aircraft’s disappearance, vowing to never give up on the desperate search for wreckage and answers to one of aviation’s biggest mysteries.
Several dozen relatives gathered at the main Buddhist temple in central Beijing, some of them wearing T-shirts reading: “Never give up. Search on.”
Security officers closely watched the relatives and stopped them from entering the sprawling grounds.
Since the plane’s disappearance, Chinese security has tightened its watch over the relatives, especially after some began criticizing the Chinese government’s response to the incident.
“We want to show our determination,” said Jiang Hui (蔣暉), whose mother was aboard the flight. “We are here to pray for our loved ones and we hope they can come back and the truth will come out as soon as possible.”
Without concrete evidence, she and other relatives would never accept the conclusion of the Malaysian authorities that the passengers are dead, she added.
In Kuala Lumpur, Voice 370, a support group for the kin of those missing, was to host a “Day of Remembrance” at a mall. Later yesterday, the Malaysian government was to release an interim investigation report, a requirement under international civil aviation regulations.
Although no wreckage has been found, officials in Australia, Malaysia and China — the three nations leading the search effort — said they are still optimistic the plane would be found in the southern Indian Ocean where they suspect it crashed after deviating from a flight to Beijing.
Grace Subathirai Nathan, whose mother, Anne Daisy, was on the plane, said yesterday’s events were important “to highlight to the public that we still do not have any answers and that we must pursue the search.”
“The lack of answers and definitive proof — such as aircraft wreckage — has made this more difficult to bear,” Malaysian Prime Minster Najib Razak said in a statement. “Together with our international partners, we have followed the little evidence that exists. Malaysia remains committed to the search and hopeful that MH370 will be found.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not