Next of kin hope search for MH370 will continue in new area

KUALA LUMPUR: The next of kin of the passengers and crew of Flight MH370 hope the search for the Malaysia Airlines aircraft will be continued in a new area.
Selamat Omar, 64, the father of passenger Mohd Khairul Amri, said he hoped the government would resume the search in another area "if they have the money for it".
"If not, we (family) have to accept the decision. It all depends on the government," he said when contacted Bernama today.
Nur Laila Ngah, 43, the wife of steward Wan Swaid Wan Ismail, said she and her three children were still waiting and hoping for a miracle.
"I accept whatever decision is taken (by the goverments) but deep in my heart, it is very saddening because I have been following the developments on the search for MH370 very closely, it impacts us if there is news on MH370 and it does distract us mentally," she added.
Kelvin Shim, 41, husband of MH370 flight attendant Christine Tan, said the government should "re-examine whatever information they have and re-analyse the situation" rather than suspend the search.
"They should continue the search while trying to get new information," he said.
Maira Elizabeth Nari, 21, daughter of chief steward Andrew Nari, was sad when she learnt that the seach had been suspended.
"Honestly, I don't know what to say because I am tired and futhermore it's been too long. What is important is that He(God) knows," she said.
In a statement posted in Facebook today, a next-of-kin association called Voice370 appealed to Malaysia, China and Australia to reconsider the decision to suspend the search.
It acknowledged the "tremendous effort" that the three nations and others had made to find the plane.
It also thanked media organisations worldwide for their support.
Malaysia, Australia and China announced in a joint communique today that they had suspended the underwater search for Flight MH370 after covering 120,000km² in the southern Indian Ocean.
"We remain hopeful that new information will come to light and that at some point in the future the aircraft will be located," they said.
Flight MH370, with 239 passengers and crew members aboard, vanished from the radar en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. — Bernama