Angry relatives of MH370 ask for communication

Family members of Chinese passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 gather at the Malaysian embassy in Beijing on Friday to ask the Malaysian government to continue sending representatives to the daily briefing that has kept them informed. They said no one has come for three days. Zhu Xingxin / China Daily

Relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 protested in front of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing again on Friday, asking the Malaysian government to restart communications with its technical experts and release the materials on which it based its conclusion that the missing flight "ended" in the southern Indian Ocean.

More than 100 family members walked to the Malaysian embassy north of Liangmaqiao Road at 11:30 pm on Thursday. They returned to the Metropark Lido Hotel at around 5 pm on Friday after a Malaysian official from the embassy came out and accepted their written protest.

The group said they protested because it had been promised that representatives from both the Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines would join every news briefing, but only airline representatives attended the one that began at 3 pm on Thursday.

"Representatives of the embassy promised to come after Malaysia Airlines representatives made a phone call to them at the request of family members. But at 11:30 pm, we were told that nobody from the embassy would come," Zhang Yongli, whose daughter was aboard the missing jet, said.

"After hearing the announcement, the family members became very angry and decided to go to the embassy.

"Many family members only wore T-shirts when they left for the Malaysian embassy. It was cold at night. All of the family members stayed up for the whole night," the 63-year-old said.

Malaysian representatives also promised to restart meetings with the nation's technical experts on Monday, but no one had arrive as of Friday.

"They cannot make a promise and then break it again and again. We can do nothing else but to protest to make them keep their promises," said Zhang.

On Friday, many family members stayed in front of the embassy all day long, some lying on thin blankets on the ground to rest after a sleepless night.

Some family members had packed food for lunch, but most of it was left untouched on the ground.

One area fast-food shop offered to bring food to them for free.

At times, the family members shouted slogans as they thrust their fist in the air, chanting things like "Make public the truth" or "Return my beloved".

The MH370 family-member contingent also drafted a written protest for the embassy. The draft read, "We hope the Malaysian government will fulfill its commitment and resume the communication meetings with high-level technical experts from Malaysia, which they promised earlier to be held every five days."

The written protest also asked that the family members be allowed to talk with a third-party investigative body and get regular updates.

Family member Wen Wancheng, 63, had previously told China Daily that family members hope the experts would discuss with them how they plan to find the missing jet.

"They said the plane ended in the South Indian Ocean based on data from Inmarsat. However, we have not seen the raw data. As family members, we have the right to know the raw data," family member Bian Huailiang said, adding that the data should be given to Chinese experts or third-party international institutes to judge.

"We don't believe in the Malaysian government anymore, as all they said are lies," the 25-year-old continued.

Nothing has been found so far in the search for the missing jet.

A senior US defense official, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to comment on the search effort, told Reuters on Friday that the hunt for missing plane will likely drag on for years since an underwater search for any trace of wreckage off the coast of west Australia appears to have failed.