The Latest: Sister says ending search keeps cloud over pilot

“How can they end the search like that? There will be finger-pointing again,” she said.

“They just don’t give a damn about people’s feelings. They were so cocksure it was there but after three years and so much money and manpower poured in, what came out of it? How do they answer that?”

Sakinab also said it was an embarrassment to the world that such a big plane couldn’t be found despite modern technologies and state-of-the-art gadgets.

___

10:15 p.m.

Malaysia Airlines says the search for Flight 370 has been “thorough and comprehensive” and it remained guided by the decision of the three governments.

The underwater search was ended Tuesday after three years of effort failed to find a trace of the plane. It disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board.

The airline said it “remains hopeful that in the near future, new and significant information will come to light and the aircraft would eventually be located.”

More recent analysis of debris that has washed ashore in the western Indian Ocean and other data indicated the plane crashed just north of the search zone. But the governments involved say the new information is not conclusive enough to justify a new search.

___

8:15 p.m.

China says it will continue to keep in contact with other countries on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 even after the three countries ended the underwater search for the plane.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, told reporters that China remains “highly concerned” about the March 2014 crash that killed 239 people, nearly two-thirds of them Chinese.

Hua promised “close communication and co-operation” with Australia and Malaysia.

The three countries announced Tuesday they were suspending search operations, which have cost an estimated $160 million over nearly three years.

Some relatives of the Flight 370 victims said they weren’t satisfied with rescue efforts and wanted them to continue.

Hua declined to comment on the search operation itself.

___

6:45 p.m.

A woman whose sister was on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 says the families had hoped until the end that a clue would be found that would locate the plane. But they understood the search was too expensive to continue indefinitely.

Jeanette Maguire’s sister Cathy Lawton of Australia and brother-in-law Bob Lawton were on the flight that disappeared in March 2014.

“We were hoping and praying that that wouldn’t be it and we would have found something of significance for them to be able to keep searching,” Maguire said.

“It’s very upsetting for everybody, but at the same token you’ve got understanding there as well to the finances that are required as well as the time required for that search,” she said.

___

6:30 p.m.

Relatives of some of the 152 Chinese who died aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 say they’re angry and demoralized by the suspension of search efforts.

Li Xinmao, whose daughter and son-in-law were on the flight heading to Beijing, called Tuesday’s announcement “unacceptable.”

Li accused Malaysia and China of being “irresponsible” and ignoring relatives’ protests. Nearly two-thirds of the 239 people on board Flight 370 were Chinese.

Nan Jinyan, whose brother’s fiancé was killed, said relatives had to accept the “fact that the missing plane can’t be found, maybe forever.”

Many Chinese relatives have long been frustrated with the investigation and what they said was a lack of credible information, at one point marching to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing.

___

5:45 p.m.

The husband of a victim of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 says he’ll never board a flight without feeling terror until he finds out why the plane carrying his wife disappeared.

Chandrika Sharma was one of the 239 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 when it crashed in March 2014. Her husband, K.S. Narendran, and other relatives of victims say they’re dismayed by Tuesday’s suspension of the search for the plane.

Narendran, of Chennai, India, says it’s “mind-boggling” that Australia won’t search an area north of the existing search zone where experts recently concluded the plane likely crashed. Authorities want more specific information about the plane’s location.

Narendran says the families involved expect to one day get a “credible explanation to what has happened,” even if they never see their loved ones again.

Without an explanation, Narendan says he feels there’s a “good chance that this could happen in the future.”

___

5:25 p.m.

A support group for relatives of the victims of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is protesting Tuesday’s decision to suspend the search for the plane.

The group Voice370 issued a statement shortly after Australia, China and Malaysia announced they were suspending the nearly three-year search, which failed to find the main underwater wreckage or the bodies of the 239 people killed.

The group is criticizing the decision not to search waters north of the existing search zone based on a new analysis. It says extending the search is “an inescapable duty owed to the flying public.”

Voice370 called on the three nations to reverse their decision, while also acknowledging the “tremendous effort” of the governments involved in the search.

___

5:20 p.m.

The husband of a flight attendant lost on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 says he is extremely disappointed the search has been suspended because the Malaysian government had promised they would not stop the search until the plane is found.

Lee Khim Fatt said Tuesday that he still holds a small glimmer of hope that his wife, Foong Wai Yueng, is still alive somewhere.

Australian officials announced Tuesday that the search in the Indian Ocean has been suspended, nearly three years after the plane disappeared.

Lee says he has held no memorial for his wife, and that all her possessions in their house have remained untouched.

“I told my children to keep praying. As long as nothing is found, nothing is proven,” Lee said. His two children are 13 and 7.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

The Latest: Sister says ending search keeps cloud over pilot

What's Trending