Frustration of relatives of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 passengers boils over
Mariano Castillo, CNN
Updated
7:33 AM EDT, Thu March 20, 2014
Story highlights
NEW: Relatives write heart-wrenching messages on a board inside a Beijing hotel
Some family members of passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 protest at a hotel
Security guards drag one screaming woman away through a crush of reporters
A passenger's brother describes the ordeal as all-consuming for relatives
(CNN) —
A woman wailed as security guards dragged her out of the briefing room used to provide updates on missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
She is the mother of one of the passengers, and her protest is but one sign that patience is fraying among the relatives of the missing.
The families of the passengers have been mostly out of the spotlight as Malaysian authorities spearhead a mission to find the plane. But as day 12 rolled around with no answers, the frustration became evident.
Not knowing the fate of their loved ones weighs heavily on the family members, who are desperate for answers.
Australia search Malaysia map Diamantina Trench search area
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Courtesy AMSA
Three women, relatives of the passengers, staged a protest at the Kuala Lumpur hotel where the world’s media is staying. Their efforts were cut short by security guards who removed them through a crush of reporters, dragging one as she screamed.
“I don’t care what your government does,” one woman shouted, referring to the Malaysians. “I just want my son back.”
The flashes from dozens of cameras lit up her face as she spoke.
The woman identified herself as the mother of Li Le, a 36-year-old Chinese national aboard the missing plane.
“My son,” she said, weeping. “I just want my son back.”
Another woman, wearing a blue shirt, white baseball cap, sunglasses and a face mask, raised her right arm as she demanded more information from the Malaysian government.
“We need media from the entire world (to) help us find our lost families and find the MH370 plane,” the woman said. “We have no information at all. … They only say ‘keep searching’ – from South China Sea to Malacca Strait to Andaman Sea.”
She and the other families waiting in Kuala Lumpur said they aren’t satisfied with “the Malaysian government’s inaction.”
“What we need is to know the truth, to know where the plane is,” she shouted. “We have had enough. Malaysian government are liars.”
Guards then escorted the women out, apparently against their will.
The screams of Li Le’s mother were piercing as she was dragged through a sea of reporters.
The other two women were led out by guards. All three were taken to a room in the hotel, and Malaysian authorities blocked the door.
Afterward, Malaysia’s acting defense and transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein expressed “regret” about the incident, which he promised to look into.
“One can only imagine the anguish they are going through,” Hussein said in a statement. “Malaysia is doing everything in its power to find MH370 and hopefully bring some degree of closure for those whose family members are missing.”
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.
The agony of the wait was felt not just in Kuala Lumpur. Families in Beijing – the scheduled destination for Flight 370 – also gather daily for a briefing with officials.
Ye Lun, whose brother-in-law is on the missing plane, says every day is the same. He and his group leave the hotel in the morning for a daily briefing, and that’s it. They go back to the hotel to watch the news on television.
The deepening mystery has taken its toll on the families.
Ye’s sister – the wife of one of the passengers – has become very unstable, he said.
“Every morning, she feels that she’s got hope when she comes to the briefing. Then they simply say those blurry things again,” Ye said. “Then she loses hope again.”
He continued: “It’s like this every single day. She always hopes that a miracle will happen, but it doesn’t. I don’t know when this miracle will happen. How many days have we got left, I don’t know.”
Ye’s brother-in-law is a veteran of the Malaysia Airlines’ Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route, a silver-level frequent flier.
The airline’s handling of the situation is so unpopular that the families in Beijing are talking about potential lawsuits. Ye asked for an envoy from the airline to confer with the families to explain the details of the situation.
“The longer the wait, the bigger the mental shadow we have,” he said.
That’s not to say relatives are giving up. For proof, all one needs to do is look at a board inside a conference room of Beijing’s Lido Hotel – inscribed with heart-wrenching messages such as, “Little Ling, why don’t you call home?” and “We’re waiting for you to come home for dinner.”
One reads: “Dear Dad, please come back safe. I just want to see your face, hold your hands and hear your teachings.”
In a show of solidarity, some families of the victims of Air France Flight 447, which also went missing before its wreckage was found, wrote an open letter to the families of Flight 370 passengers.
The letter expressed dismay about the vague and sometimes contradictory statements from the Malaysian government, and it suggested that families turn to their home governments to pressure the Malaysians for details.
The letter was written by a group of relatives of Flight 447 victims who lived in Germany.
The president of the group, Dr. Bernd Gans, said it is necessary for the families of Flight 370 to stick together and to pressure officials “to make sure they are getting answers.”
Gans lost a daughter in the Air France tragedy, and he said coping with the incident becomes easier over time.
“Yes, in the first moment you are completely paralyzed, but life goes on, it’s necessary,” he said.
For now, the Flight 370 families are in limbo – frustrated by the lack of clear information, while fending off their worst fears and clinging to hope.
It’s all consuming, said Peter Weeks, whose brother and “best friend” Paul, originally from New Zealand, was on Flight 370.
“You spend 24 hours a day thinking about it, really – every waking moment and even in the few moments of sleep,” Weeks told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday. “The first thing I do is go straight on the Internet in the morning and see if there’s any update. And every day … there’s no solid information about anything.”
Sarah Bajc, the partner of American Philip Wood, initially thought the plane had been commandeered or hijacked. As time elapsed, that theory has gained followers.
“All my friends were starting to think that perhaps I was just in denial, and I was even starting to doubt myself a little bit,” Bajc told CNN’. “So when all of this new evidence started to come out, it gave me confidence that I wasn’t so crazy after all.”
She is no aviation expert, but she has intuition, and it tells her that the passengers, including Wood, are still alive.
Whoever is holding the passengers hostage in this scenario can achieve their goal without hurting anyone, she said. There is no evidence that this is the case, but it is her message to any possible captors.
“Miracles do happen,” she said. “They happen every day.”
CNN’s Kyung Lah and Atika Shubert contributed to this report from Kuala Lumpur; Yuli Yang contributed from Beijing; and Justin Lear, Kevin Wang and Greg Botelho contributed from Atlanta. Mariano Castillo wrote the story in Atlanta.
