MH370 five years on: As mystery of missing plane reaches fifth anniversary, 50 relatives of victims gather to demand the search continues

  • Relatives of Chinese passengers on board Flight MH370 call for hunt to resume
  • The families gathered outside the Chinese Foreign Ministry to demand answers  
  • It marked the fifth anniversary of the tragedy that killed all 239 on board in 2014 
  • Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, suspended in January 2017 

Emotional relatives of those on board the doomed Flight MH370 have demanded answers and called for the hunt to resume, on the fifth anniversary of the plane's disappearance. 

The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 people - mostly from China - en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. 

Its disappearance is one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries and the cause of many conspiracy theories surrounding the fate of the plane and its passengers.    

Malaysian and international investigators believe the jet veered thousands of miles off course from its scheduled route before eventually plunging into the Indian Ocean. 

The cause of the planes sudden diversion off course is still not known. 

No sign of it was found in a 46,000-square mile (120,000-square kilometre) Indian Ocean search zone and the Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January 2017.

Wang Yulian, whose daughter was on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, wipes her tears as relatives of the passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines jet gathered outside the foreign ministry to demand answers

Wang Yulian, whose daughter was on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, wipes her tears as relatives of the passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines jet gathered outside the foreign ministry to demand answers

Relatives of passengers of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 walk to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing today on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy

Relatives of passengers of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 walk to the Foreign Ministry in Beijing today on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy 

A US exploration firm launched a private hunt last year but it ended after several months of scouring the seabed without success.

Around 50 relatives of Chinese passengers travelled to Beijing from around the country to mark the anniversary and gathered outside the foreign ministry, with some weeping as police officers looked on.

Hu Qiufang said that family members had spent the past year pleading to see the foreign minister but they were only granted a meeting with a low-level official Friday, who told them there were no updates.

The 78-year-old, whose son was on the flight, said: 'The Chinese government doesn't listen to us, we feel very helpless. As our country, China should be supporting the families.'

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the flight, said he was still haunted by the tragedy: 'It's like a living nightmare, the scene replaying in my head.'

Malaysian family members meanwhile called for the search to be restarted.

They were given a glimmer of hope last weekend during a memorial in Kuala Lumpur when the Malaysian transport minister said he was open to hearing proposals to resume the hunt.

Chinese police officers push back journalists from relatives of passengers who gathered outside the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanding answers, in Beijing

Chinese police officers push back journalists from relatives of passengers who gathered outside the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanding answers, in Beijing

A piece of debris belong to flight MH370 displayed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during the remembrance ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the flight's disappearance

A piece of debris belong to flight MH370 displayed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during the remembrance ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the flight's disappearance

Grace Nathan, whose mother Anne Daisy was on the flight said: 'We will continue to do whatever we can to make sure the search goes on.

'As long as there's the possibility of a search, we remain hopeful that the plane can be found.'

Jacquita Gonzales, whose husband Patrick Gomes was an MH370 flight steward, said that 'every time March comes it's like it was only yesterday that our loved ones went missing - it's very hard'.

In a long-awaited final report into the tragedy released in July last year, the official investigation team pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.

But they failed to come up with any firm conclusions, leaving relatives angry and disappointed.

Investigators released the 495-page report, saying the plane's controls were likely deliberately manipulated to take it off course but they were not able to determine who was responsible. 

Hijacking was not ruled out as the reason behind the plane diverting from its course. 

Relatives of missing Chinese passengers waiting to meet officials outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing to call for the search for the missing plane to begin again

Relatives of missing Chinese passengers waiting to meet officials outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing to call for the search for the missing plane to begin again 

Thai soldiers carry a piece of suspected aircraft debris after it was found by fishermen on January 23, at a beach in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat

Thai soldiers carry a piece of suspected aircraft debris after it was found by fishermen on January 23, at a beach in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat 

This week, journalist Ean Higgins in his book 'The Hunt for MH370' claimed the 'rogue pilot' - Zaharie Ahmad Shah - carried out a complex murder-suicide plan so that the plane's remains and the bodies of all 239 people onboard would never be found.

Much attention has focused on the possibility of a mechanical or structural failure. 

Some experts have put forward the theory that a fire could have broken out in electronic components, which produced smoke that filled the plane and led to the passengers and crew falling unconscious.

The plane then continued on autopilot over the Indian Ocean, where search efforts have been focused, before running out of fuel and crashing, the theory goes.

The idea of a so-called 'mass hypoxia event' - 'hypoxia' refers to a lack of oxygen - has been supported by a number of analysts.

Malaysian Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke (centre) looks at the wing flap found on Pemba Island, Tanzania, which has been identified a missing part of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

Malaysian Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke (centre) looks at the wing flap found on Pemba Island, Tanzania, which has been identified a missing part of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

In a 2014 report setting out details of a search area, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau - which led the main hunt for the jet - said that an 'unresponsive crew/ hypoxia event' appeared to fit the final stage of MH370's flight.

Last November relatives of people who went missing have retrieved what they believed were new pieces of debris from the aircraft and hoped the discovery would reveal some new clues. 

Investigators on a TV documentary said the plane almost certainly ran out of fuel after flying in the wrong direction over the Indian Ocean for six hours.

This could have been caused by the right engine breaking down first, meaning the autopilot would have lurched the plane to the left to compensate.

In July 2015, a wing part known as a flaperon was found on Reunion Island, east of Madagascar. Since then, 27 pieces of debris have been found.

One of the pieces was a TV monitor, found by amateur wreckage hunter Blaine Gibson.

In October 2018 a pilot claimed to have discovered parts of flight MH370 in the same area of the Cambodian jungle where a filmmaker was forced to abandon his pursuit of the plane's wreckage because of 'illegal loggers high on meth'. 

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