Volunteers on hand to help desperate relatives

Live report

BEIJING -- Braving the silence that hung in the air, Yao Yao finally decided to speak.

Yao and eight other volunteers had earlier arrived at the Yuxuan Meeting Room of the Lido Hotel at noon on Sunday, where anxiety was playing out inside the crowded yet silent place.

"I wanted to let them know that even in their most vulnerable state, there were people sharing their deepest fears and despair," Yao said.

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The volunteers were there to provide psychological support to the 100-plus family members of the passengers on board the missing flight MH370.

Contact with the Malaysia Airlines plane was lost along with its radar signal at 1:20 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday as it was flying over the Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control area in Vietnam.

The flight was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers, including 154 Chinese.

Grief-stricken relatives remained silent and anxious, as the fate of their beloved ones was still unknown. Some were lying on the floor, others were huddling against the white walls.

Yao is experienced in providing psychological support. She helped relatives of victims in the fatal crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in 2013.

Despite Yao's offer of support, sharing was not easy for relatives.

Zhang Zirou, another volunteer, said that the brother and uncle of a passenger spoke to her. "The tearful brother told me that he was both sad and anxious, but he had to get a hold of himself because he did not want the uncle to crumble." So Zhang spoke to them separately.

The volunteers tried to speak to the relatives one by one.

For the past two days they have remained with the family members.

Yao said some family members were at breaking point due to a lack of information of their loved ones. Some of the relatives were "preparing for the worst".

"We just listened, so they could express their repressed feelings," Yao said.

For those who did not want to talk much, Yao and her colleagues simply stood by their side, occasionally offering a cup of water or a tissue.

Early on Tuesday morning at Capital International Airport's Terminal 3 in Beijing, the volunteers saw off some of the relatives who left for Kuala Lumpur.

Volunteer Chen Xian, with tangled feelings, wrote in his diary, "I am a member of the volunteer group, but I am also a human being.

"I have parents, brothers, my partner and children, and I know what it feels like for the family members to wait in extreme helplessness with a torn heart every minute of the past few days."

The diary entry continued, "All I can do is control my emotions, stay by their side, and offer professional support so that they can find a way to let out their anxiety, at least for now."

 

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