Seven years on, missing plane’s fate remains a mystery

KUALA LUMPUR: Yesterday marked the seventh anniversary of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370’s mysterious disappearance while on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

How and why a sophisticated Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers of different nationalities and 12 crew members vanished from the radar screen without a trace remain a mystery despite an extensive search.

In remembering the ill-fated flight, Bernama revisited the incident and interviewed some of the next of kin in Malaysia who were disappointed with the lack of closure on the tragedy.

“I feel exactly like how it was seven years ago when I was 17...things are pretty much the same but we are doing okay, ” said the daughter of Andrew Nari, the chief steward on the flight.

The brother-in-law of Goh Sock Lay, the chief stewardess on board, said the family did not want to talk about the incident as they felt sad each time they recalled it.

Family members of some passengers have moved on and feel there is nothing more to talk about.

Even conspiracy theories have abated.

The initial theories – such as hijacking and diversion of the plane to a US military base on the Diego Garcia atoll, seizure of control of the aircraft from the pilots via remote methods and catastrophic systems or airframe failure – have yet to be proven.

But the aircraft’s flaperon, which washed up on a beach on Reunion Island a year later, pointed to the fact that the Indian Ocean may be the final resting place of Flight MH370.

However, there is no way to pinpoint the exact resting place of the wreck in the vast ocean.

Until the plane is found and the enigma of its disappearance is deciphered, MH370 will continue to be an aviation mystery. — Bernama