MH370 families want investigation to focus more on debris from plane

Family members of those lost aboard a Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing in 2014 criticized Malaysian investigators on Sunday for not doing enough to find debris, which could give more clues about what happened.

Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, sparking a search in the southern Indian Ocean that continues.

Grace Nathan, who lost her mother, said families wanted authorities to focus more on finding debris from the plane. The search has so far been entirely funded by well-wishers and the families of the missing, she said.

“There should not be a situation where the relatives of people on the plane have to keep funding the search,” she told Reuters in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar.

Aslam Khan, one of the Malaysian investigators who arrived in Antananarivo on Sunday, said it was incorrect to suggest the inquiry was winding down.

He said criticism of the investigation team for failing to collect the debris was “fair comment.”

“We are here now,” he said. “Once we have had a physical examination of it (the debris) we will be in a position to say more.”

Seven representatives of the families are expected to meet investigators on Monday and see the investigators take custody of six pieces of debris that have washed up on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar over the past six months.

A total of 33 pieces suspected to be from the plane have been found so far, including parts of the wings and tail, in La Reunion, Mozambique, South Africa, Mauritius and Tanzania.