Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Days pass, no word of loved ones
Sophie Brown, Dayu Zhang and Serena Dong, CNN
Published
2:21 AM EDT, Thu March 13, 2014
Story highlights
Relatives of MH370 passengers are anxious to hear news of loved ones
Martial arts star Ju Kun was among those on board the flight
Tributes and messages of support are being shared online
Communities hold vigils to pray for the missing
(CNN) —
New Zealanders Danica and Paul Weeks are no strangers to disaster. The couple’s eldest son, Lincoln, was born in the midst of an earthquake in Christchurch in 2010. Just over three years later, in December 2013, they were in a car accident after moving to Australia.
So when Paul left for a mining job in Mongolia earlier this month, the couple took precautions, Danica says. Paul couldn’t wear his wedding ring on the mine site so he left it, and his watch, at home with instructions to pass them on to his two sons, “should anything happen” to him.
On his way to Mongolia, Paul traveled on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Photos: The search for MH370
Two years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, a relative of one of the passengers burns incense in Beijing on March 8, 2016. Flight 370 vanished on March 8, 2014, as it flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. There were 239 people on board.
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Visual China Group/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
On July 29, police carry a piece of debris on Reunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. A week later, authorities confirmed that the debris was from the missing flight.
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Lucas Marie/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
Staff members with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau examine a piece of aircraft debris at their laboratory in Canberra, Australia, on July 20. The flap was found in June by residents on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania, and officials had said it was highly likely to have come from Flight 370. Experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the search for the plane, confirmed that the part was indeed from the missing aircraft.
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ATSB/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
In late February, American tourist Blaine Gibson found a piece of plane debris off Mozambique, a discovery that renewed hope of solving the mystery of the missing flight. The piece measured 35 inches by 22 inches. A U.S. official said it was likely the wreckage came from a Boeing 777, which MH370 was.
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Blaine Gibson
Photos: The search for MH370
Relatives of the flight's passengers console each other outside the Malaysia Airlines office in Subang, Malaysia, on February 12, 2015. Protesters had demanded that the airline withdraw the statement that all 239 people aboard the plane were dead.
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MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
A police officer watches a couple cry outside the airline's office building in Beijing after officials refused to meet with them on June 11, 2014. The couple's son was on the plane.
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Andy Wong/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
Members of the media scramble to speak with Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Department, at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 27, 2014. Data from communications between satellites and the missing flight was released the day before, more than two months after relatives of passengers said they requested it be made public.
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MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Operators aboard the Australian ship Ocean Shield move Bluefin-21, the U.S. Navy's autonomous underwater vehicle, into position to search for the jet on April 14, 2014.
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Peter D. Blair/U.S. Navy/UPI/LANDOV
Photos: The search for MH370
A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks out of a window while searching for debris off the coast of western Australia on April 13, 2014.
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Greg Wood/Pool/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
The HMS Echo, a vessel with the British Roya; Navy, moves through the waters of the southern Indian Ocean on April 12, 2014.
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British Ministry of Defence
Photos: The search for MH370
A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search, flies past the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 9, 2014.
A relative of a missing passenger cries at a vigil in Beijing on April 8, 2014.
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STRinger/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Australian Defense Force divers scan the water for debris in the southern Indian Ocean on April 7, 2014.
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Lt. Ryan Davis/Australian Defense Force/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
A towed pinger locator is readied to be deployed off the deck of the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 7, 2014.
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Kelly Hunt/Australian Defense Force/UPI/LANDOV
Photos: The search for MH370
A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks at a flare in the Indian Ocean during search operations on April 4, 2014.
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Nick Perry/Pool/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
On March 30, 2014, a woman in Kuala Lumpur prepares for an event in honor of those aboard Flight 370.
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Rahman Roslan/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
The sole representative for the families of Flight 370 passengers leaves a conference at a Beijing hotel on March 28, 2014, after other relatives left en masse to protest the Malaysian government's response to their questions.
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Ng Han Guan/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
A member of the Royal Australian Air Force is silhouetted against the southern Indian Ocean during the search for the missing jet on March 27, 2014.
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Michael Martina/Pool/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Flight Lt. Jayson Nichols looks at a map aboard a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft during a search on March 27, 2014.
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Michael Martina/Pool/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
People in Kuala Lumpur light candles during a ceremony held for the missing flight's passengers on March 27, 2014.
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Aaron Favila/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, delivers a statement about the flight on March 24, 2014. Razak's announcement came after the airline sent a text message to relatives saying it "deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH 370 has been lost and that none of those onboard survived."
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MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Grieving relatives of missing passengers leave a hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014.
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GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
A passenger views a weather map in the departures terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 22, 2014.
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Rufus Cox/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
A Chinese satellite captured this image, released on March 22, 2014, of a floating object in the Indian Ocean, according to China's State Administration of Science. It was a possible lead in the search for the missing plane. Surveillance planes were looking for two objects spotted by satellite imagery in remote, treacherous waters more than 1,400 miles from the west coast of Australia.
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China's State Admiration of Science
Photos: The search for MH370
Satellite imagery provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on March 20, 2014, showed debris in the southern Indian Ocean that could have been from Flight 370. The announcement by Australian officials raised hopes of a breakthrough in the frustrating search.
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Digital Globe/AMSA/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Another satellite shot provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shows possible debris from the flight.
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DigitalGlobe/AMSA via Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
A distraught relative of a missing passenger breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 19, 2014.
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AZHAR RAHIM/EPA/LANDOV
Photos: The search for MH370
On March 18, 2014, a relative of a missing passenger tells reporters in Beijing about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet.
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Andy Wong/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations in the Indian Ocean on March 16, 2014.
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U.S. Navy/Eric A. Pastor/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on March 13, 2014. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, search efforts expanded west into the Indian Ocean.
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XINHUA/LANDOV
Photos: The search for MH370
A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13, 2014.
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LUONG THAI LINH/EPA/LANDOV
Photos: The search for MH370
Malaysian air force members look for debris near Kuala Lumpur on March 13, 2014.
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Rahman Roslan/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12, 2014.
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Andy Wong/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on March 11, 2014.
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HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported on March 8, 2014. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10, 2014.
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EPA/TIENPHONG.VN
Photos: The search for MH370
A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews on March 9, 2014, before returning to search for the missing plane in the Gulf of Thailand.
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Chris D. Boardman/U.S. Navy via Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9, 2014.
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Lai Seng Sin/AP
Photos: The search for MH370
Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9, 2014.
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Zhao Yingquan/Xinhua/Landov
Photos: The search for MH370
The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea on March 9, 2014.
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Zhao Yingquan/Xinhua/Landov
Photos: The search for MH370
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014.
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MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014.
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MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Chinese police at the Beijing airport stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight 370 in red on March 8, 2014.
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MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images
Photos: The search for MH370
Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a news conference at a hotel in Sepang on March 8, 2014. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said.
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Lai Seng Sin/AP
As she speaks to CNN’s Piers Morgan on Thursday, Danica grips her husband’s wedding ring while fighting back tears. It’s been five days since MH370 vanished, but with little information about the plane’s whereabouts the wait feels like an eternity.
“That’s the toughest part every day – waking up and looking on the news and seeing that there’s nothing; and there are no calls from Malaysia to say ‘we’ve found something,’” Weeks says.
“He was the most amazing husband and the most amazing father. He spent so much time with his kids,” she says.
Approximately 5,000 miles away, at a hotel near the Beijing Capital International Airport, Hu Xianquan waits anxiously for news of her husband, Mao Tugui. The couple last spoke on March 2 when Mao, a painter, was about to board a flight to Malaysia to attend an exhibition of his work.
For Hu, like many families of those on board Flight 370, grief is quickly turning to frustration. There has been no word of her husband for days and confusing reports about the search and rescue mission are only making the wait more agonizing.
While many Chinese relatives of passengers on board Flight 370 began traveling to Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Hu and her daughter decided to stay in Beijing, concerned that the language barrier would only make it more difficult to understand what was happening.
Malaysia Airlines offered to transfer Chinese and Indian relatives of missing passengers to Kuala Lumpur for “better care and comfort,” but some have declined.
Missing 370 passenger Huang Yi and her 5-year-old daughter
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Huang Lu
“I don’t see the point in going to Kuala Lumpur and seeing the same information,” K. S. Narendran tells CNN from India. His wife Chandrika Sharma was on the flight. “It’s better to stay in Chennai where I’m surrounded by family and friends.”
Sharma, the executive secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, had been on her way to Mongolia for a conference of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Her husband says he’s received little direct assistance or information from authorities about the search operation and relies on press conferences and news reports, but “that has thus far amounted to nothing.”
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak has appealed to relatives to be patient. “The families involved have to understand that this is something unexpected. The families must understand more efforts have been made with all our capabilities,” he said Wednesday.
More than half the passengers on board Flight 370 were Chinese. Martial arts expert and stunt man Ju Kun was among them. The 35-year-old, whose film credits include “The Grandmaster” and “The Forbidden Kingdom,” was set to begin filming a new Netflix series “Marco Polo” in the coming weeks.
Netflix and its production partner The Weinstein Company said in a statement that they were deeply saddened by the news.
“Ju Kun, who was on board, was an integral part of our production team and a tremendous talent. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time,” the statement said.
Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi posted a tribute to Ju on her Weibo account: “He is a sincere, kind and hardworking man.”
Like many of those on board Flight 370, Ju’s social media account has been flooded with comments from strangers, many praying for his safe return.
Around the world, communities have gathered to pray for the missing and offer comfort to their loved ones. On Monday, Malaysians sang songs and lit paper lanterns at a candlelight vigil in Kuala Lumpur.
In nearby Petaling Jaya, members of the St. Francis Xavier Church have been holding special prayer sessions for Patrick Francis Gomes, an in-flight supervisor who was on board the flight.
“It’s still difficult for us to come to terms with what has happen. I can only say that my father is a quiet person but also can be a joker,” his daughter Nikki Gomes told CNN.
“He is very dedicated to his job and took his responsibilities very seriously as all crew members would.”
Malaysia Airlines will retire flight codes MH370 and MH371 as a mark of respect to the passengers and crew, the company said in a statement Thursday.
Many have turned to digital platforms to offer comforting words, and tribute sites have been created for the flight’s captain and crew.
A Facebook profile thought to be that of Pouria Nour Mohammadi, an 18-year-old Iranian who used a stolen passport to board the plane, has scores of messages of support from strangers.
“I don’t know you but I pray that you are safe somewhere in this world,” writes one user. “May you and the other passengers and crew on Malaysian flight 370, be found safe and may your journey continue to find yourself safe in your mothers [sic] arms again.”
Back in China, Huang Lu, a teacher at an elementary school in Guizhou province, waits for word of her friend, Huang Yi. The 30-year-old works for the technology firm Freescale in the company’s Tianjin office. She was on the plane with 19 other colleagues when it disappeared.
The women have been friends since they were teenagers. “She’s kind, lively and a good person to talk with,” Huang Lu said.
The pair kept in touch online. Yi, who has a five-year old daughter named Yuanyuan, would often talk to Huang Lu about family and raising children.
“I’ve been waiting, worried since I heard the news. I hope to see a miracle. Yi, please come back, Yuanyuan needs you,” she said.
