Putrajaya, March 16 – After being in the dark for eight days, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement Saturday on the latest indication on the possible location of the aircraft has brought some relief to the families of passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370.
The prime minister confirmed that the unknown flight traced by the primary radar was indeed, Flight MH370, saying it had deviated from its original path heading to Beijing.
It was also learnt that the last communication by the aircraft had pointed to one or two possibilities where it might have flown to.
The first possibility was that it could have flown towards the northern corridor near Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The second, it could have flown towards the southern corridor between Indonesia and Southern Indian ocean.
Selamat Omar, father of Mohd Khairul Amri, 29, said the announcement had given his family some hope that the third of four siblings might return home safely.
“Now, we have some valid information about the aircraft and hope the passengers are safe,” the 60-year-old told reporters after watching the live telecast of Najib’s statement on television, with several other affected family members, at the Everly Hotel lobby this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Fikri Zamani, 11, the youngest brother of 23-year-old Muhammad Razahan who was onboard MH370, expressed similar sentiments.
He said he yearned for his missing sibling who often took him for rides on his motorcycle, and movies.
“I hope my brother will soon be found…I pray the film, ‘Sejoli’, which we watched recently, will not be our last movie together,” he said.
Beijing-bound Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, went missing about an hour after taking off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.41am last Saturday.
It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30am.
– Bernama
