Families blister high officials

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Malaysia’s Lieutenant General Ackbal Samad listens to a relative of a passenger on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 at a briefing at the Metropark Lido Hotel on Friday. It marks the first time high-level officials from the Malaysian government have come to Beijing to talk with the family members. [Photo/Agencies]

Family members of passengers aboard Malaysian Airlines’ missing flight MH370 questioned a special envoy team from Malaysia at a Friday briefing about its government’s failure to release timely information, and they pressed for any possible information that could indicate their relatives may still be alive.

The team, consisting of high-level representatives from the Malaysian Air Force and Malaysian Civil Aviation Administration, arrived in Beijing late on Thursday.

They started Friday’s briefing at 10 am with an overview of what Malaysia’s and other countries’ search and rescue teams have done and will do.

During that presentation, many of the relatives seemed to be asleep or were looking at their cellphones.

Dimensions of the Boeing 777-200ER Wing span: 60.9 metres Overall length: 63.7 metres Tail height: 18.5 metres Fuselage diameter: 6.19 metres

But the situation quickly became heated during a Q&A session that lasted for more than two hours. The envoy team was pelted with questions.

Families were concerned with why the Malaysian government hadn’t offered information more quickly, including the possibility of terrorism.

"You released the information (of the possible track of the missing plane) on the 14th day after the aircraft was found missing, when the search and rescue was coming to a close and when it was the most dangerous time," a relative said in a low but quivering voice.

"If you made public all the information in 24 or even in 48 hours after the incident, we wouldn’t have to suffer here for 13 days."

"Will the lack of information flow affect the search and rescue work?" a woman asked.

"Just tell me yes or no," she demanded, interrupting an answer from Lieutenant General Ackbal Samad from the Ministry of Defense, which she believed was "not a direct statement".

The woman also said the Malaysian government had humiliated the countries that spent so much of their search and rescue efforts in the Gulf of Thailand only to later say that the plane had turned back to the Indian Ocean instead of heading north.

Another relative also criticized the late release of crucial facts: "Based on the information you offered today and the technological means you showed us, you knew it. You knew it very early."

A mother whose only son was on the missing plane asked if it was possible that the pilot, a relative of an opposition leader, had hijacked the plane in support of the man. Another relative also asked whether family members could be told about any negotiations with possible hijackers.

"We, all family members of the passengers, require you to abandon hatred and considerations of power and interests and let our relatives come back," she said.

The general, however, said no possibility can be ruled out as the black box flight recorder of the plane hasn’t been found and that it would be the Malaysian police instead of he who would answer those questions.

"If we do find enough evidence, of course, justice will be done. I can assure you of that," the general said.

He also said that some information wasn’t given out of consideration for the safety of the passengers.

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