KUALA LUMPUR: An MH370 families organisation said Wednesday it would not accept the Malaysian government’s declaration that wreckage found on an Indian Ocean island came from the ill-fated flight until more analysis is completed, and called for an impartial investigation.
The statement by Voice 370, an international next-of-kin group, adds to doubts over the debris that have been expressed already by a number of individual family members.
“Needless to say, most families have refused to accept the Malaysian verdict, and are awaiting a more definite and conclusive analysis,” the group said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced last week that a wing part known as a flaperon, which washed up on the French island of Reunion, had been confirmed by experts in France as part of MH370.
Najib called it proof of his government’s assertion that the jet met a disastrous end somewhere in the Indian Ocean, a position backed by many aviation experts.
But many MH370 family members remain deeply suspicious of Malaysia’s handling of the aviation enigma and have rejected that conclusion, with some still harbouring the belief that the plane landed safely somewhere.
Voice 370 said Malaysia is the only party to have conclusively stated that the Reunion wreckage was from MH370.
French authorities have said there was a “very high probability” that the debris was linked to the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777.
MH370 vanished on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew, triggering one of aviation’s greatest mysteries. A search operation — the biggest in history — is still ongoing in the southern Indian Ocean.