Ten years on, still few clues to what happened to MH370

Family members of people aboard MH370 at the remembrace event (AAP)

Family members of people aboard MH370 at the remembrace event Source: AAP / NAZRI MOHAMAD/EPA

Get the SBS Audio app

Other ways to listen

As the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 approaches, there’s a renewed push to resume the search for the doomed plane. Most of those on board were Chinese citizens, with a number of other foreigners, including six Australians.


It's ten years since SBS reporter Marian Ives brought this news to Australia:

"At Beijing's International Airport, the flight board gave an optimistic assessment but the faces of waiting relatives were filled with despair and fear. Their only information - a four paragraph media statement."

It was the start of a mystery that, ten years later, has yet to be solved - what happened to flight MH370?

Li Eryou’s 27 year old son Li Yanlin was on the Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur that never made it to its destination.

He still holds out hope his son will be found...almost ten years on from the day the Boeing 777 disappeared.

"I believe my son is still on the flight, that he’s still around. Or he is living on a remote island like Robinson Crusoe. That’s what I’ve always believed. This is the reason why I refuse the compensation."

Li Eryou’s son was among the 239 passengers and crew on board - among them 153 Chinese nationals and 6 Australians, including Paul Weeks from Perth and Melbourne man Chong Ling Tan.

In Malaysia, relatives and friends of those missing gathered to remember their loved ones.

The Malaysian Transport Minister, Anthony Loke, has told them his government is pushing for a renewed search for the plane.

"No reluctance, as I’ve mentioned numerous times, as far as Malaysian government is concerned, we are committed to that search and the search must go on."

The plane was heading from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it disappeared on March 8th 2014.

It’s one the greatest mysteries in aviation history, with several searches conducted since then.

Jiang Hui is the son of one of the passengers aboard MH370.

"The family members are willing to invest our own money to search and bear our own risks. Because the plane won’t appear on its own if we don’t search for it. There has been zero progress since 2018. If this continues, there will never be an answer on MH370.“

Initially Malaysian authorities believed it was deliberately taken off course.

Some debris, believed to be from the plane, has washed up on the African coast and on islands in the Indian Ocean, but there have been no definitive answers about its disappearance.

Intan Maizura is the wife of one of the stewards on board flight MH370

"One day, there will be someone that will come forward and tell us what is really going on, the truth. That is all we want. We long for that, at the end of the day."

Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says authorities will call for assistance from Australia and China to help with the resumption of search efforts.

"If there is a compelling case, evidence that needs to be re-opened, we will certainly be happy to re-open, I don't think it's an issue, a technical issue, it's an issue affecting people's lives and whatever needs to be done must be done."

Standing alongside his Malaysian counterpart at the ASEAN meeting in Melbourne, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged the pain families feel.

"We acknowledge at this time the ongoing grief for loved ones and deeply regret the aircraft has been unable to be located despite the extensive searches of the Southern and Indian oceans."

Ocean Infinity, the company that helped carry out a previous search has proposed carrying out another search, saying it has credible evidence which could help locate the wreckage.

The proposal will be put to the Malaysian cabinet for approval.

Share