The most recent news relating to the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 is that it now lies at the bottom of the south Indian Ocean, off the coast of Perth, Australia.
Satellite pictures appear to show objects floating in the sea in the region where plane is thought to have come down.
The pictures, which were captured by a French-based satellite division of Europe’s Airbus Group, appear to show 122 objects floating over an area of approximately 400 square kilometers (248 square miles), and ranging in size from one to 23 meters in length. As the wing from a 777 plane is 27.4 meters, the discovery of the debris has provided investigators with some hope of finding evidence relating to the plane’s disappearance.
Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, described the objects as "bright, possibly indicating solid material" and said that the images were "clearly the most credible lead we have had so far."
Relatives of the missing passengers remain unconvinced by the pictures, however, as no concrete evidence relating to the plane has yet been recovered and they feel that the news is still largely speculative.
"We demand you retract announcement that MH370 ended in south Indian Ocean and continue search-and-rescue operations,” one relative said at a recent briefing held at the Metropark Lido Hotel in Beijing.
Other family representatives challenged Malaysian envoy Iskandar Sarudin, asking: "You expect us to accept a report you cannot defend?"
"No comment,” was Mr Iskandar’s reply.
Consequently, emotions are still running high and the authorities and Malaysian Airlines are being criticized strongly by the angry family members, who claim that they have been treated without care and consideration, and worse still, that important facts relating to the disappearance are being withheld.
The situation has been further inflamed by news from an MAS team who have informed the relatives of missing Chinese passengers that sealed evidence exists which cannot be disclosed to the public.
This evidence apparently consists of air traffic control radio transcript, radar data and airport security recordings.
Requests for British experts to join the briefing team had been declined and, when assaulted by a stream of queries from the families of the passengers, the Malaysian team were unable to provide definitive answers, replying:
"We can answer but we might not be correct as we’re not the investigators."
Having again received unsatisfactory explanations, relatives were left feeling even more frustrated, causing one to comment:
"You have once again left us speechless!"
The briefing seemed to leave relatives with more questions than answers, though a five-member high-level team from Malaysia intends to brief them once every five days. The team includes MAS pilot Lim Jit Koon and senior civil aviation official Ahmad Nizar Zolfakar.
The MAS office at the hotel was closed on Tuesday, as MAS officials were advised by the Chinese government that, given the volatile mood amongst the relatives, they should make themselves scarce.
The plane’s disappearance still seems shrouded in mystery and subterfuge, and the world may never find out what happened to flight MH370. Despite news of the satellite images, the search area is huge and even if the plane did indeed sink into the ocean, viable evidence could prove difficult to recover.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott commented: "We’re throwing everything we have at this search. We owe it to the families, we owe it to an anxious world to do everything we can to solve the riddle of this extraordinarily ill-fated flight."
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