'MAS abandoned us for seeking legal advice'

PETALING JAYA: The family members of seven missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 crew are claiming that they have been “abandoned” by the company for seeking legal advice.

They claimed that MAS had stopped its caregiving services and severed communication with them since May 8 after learning that they had acquired the lawyer’s services.

Calvin Shim, whose wife Christine Tan was among the missing crew, said MAS stopped its communication without any notice and that they left the families with no one to turn to for updates on the search.

“When we called our caregivers, they informed us that MAS had instructed them to stop talking to us because we had enlisted legal advice, which is our right,” he said.

They said that they had sought out a lawyer to advise them on legal issues about the missing plane.

“Two days ago, they sent us an e-mail saying that since we had hired a lawyer, whatever queries on MH370 should be directed to them via our lawyer to their legal team,” he told a joint press conference with several family members of the crew yesterday.

Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370’s in-flight supervisor Patrick Gomes, said the daily updates into the search effort had been stopped.

“It is unfair that I have to get a lawyer to write them a letter every time I need to find out where my husband is,” she said.

Melanie Antonio, who is the wife of MH370 chief steward Andrew Nari, also claimed that they had been left in the dark.

However, the family members expressed their gratitude to acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein who commented recently that the welfare of the families should always come first.

MAS, when contacted, could not respond by press time.