(Beijing) Relatives of Chinese passengers on the infamous Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 gathered Friday in Beijing, still searching for answers 10 years to the day after the plane’s mysterious disappearance.
The Malaysian company’s Boeing 777, which linked Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board – including 153 Chinese.
The aircraft was never found and its fate constitutes one of the greatest mysteries in civil aviation.
But the families reiterated their appeal to the Chinese authorities on Friday in Beijing to help reveal the truth. Father of a passenger on flight MH370, Li Shuce said he was “optimistic”.
PHOTO XIAOYU YIN, REUTERS
Li Shuce
“I am sure my son is still alive. We hope he can come home soon,” he said after discussions with representatives of the Chinese government near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Around fifteen people, including Li Shuce, then gathered in the afternoon at an intersection near the Malaysian embassy in Beijing, access to which had been blocked by the police as a security measure.
“Malaysia, give us back our loved ones!” », They chanted towards the building.
A small group of protesters, including one carrying a letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, was allowed to approach the embassy.
PHOTO GREG BAKER, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Police officers block access to the street leading to the Malaysian embassy in Beijing.
Despite the most extensive research in the history of aviation, carried out over several years in the southern Indian Ocean, only a few fragments of the aircraft have been found.
The disappearance of the plane has long been the subject of a multitude of theories, from the most credible to the most far-fetched, notably that evoking a deliberate act by pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, an experienced professional then aged 53.
A report released by Malaysia in 2018 highlighted air traffic control failures and said the plane’s trajectory had been manually changed, but reached no definitive conclusions.
Ten years later, loved ones have not given up hope of one day obtaining answers.
“I hope the Chinese government can find our loved ones and find out the truth about what really happened,” Li Shuce said. “It’s already been 10 years…And now? What happened in the end? Was it something political? Something else ? We do not know anything. »