MH370: Mystery of missing flight continues six months on

It is six months to the day since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and investigators are no closer to solving the mystery of what happened to the plane.

The baffling question about how, in an age when people can be tracked to a street by their smartphones, can a huge Boeing-777 simply vanish and fly on for hours without anyone noticing?

A search that once drew in 26 countries is now focusing on 60,000 sq km of the southern Indian Ocean seabed off the west coast of Australia, at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.

A report in June by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the most likely scenario was that the flight coasted into the ocean on autopilot, with all 239 people on board, while the pilots were unresponsive because of hypoxia, often caused by depressurisation.

That assessment was reached purely to help locate the aircraft and, even if correct, sheds no light on the plane’s unexplained deviation from its route - turning back across the Malaysian peninsula and then heading south. Investigators believe it was deliberate: communications systems appear to have been disabled just as it left the country’s airspace, moments before its sudden diversion.

Malaysia’s initially muddled response to the disappearance, and the lack of answers half a year on, have fuelled suspicion among the victims’ families. While some accept that MH370 crashed into the ocean and suggest the early contradictions and confusions were not surprising in a developing country, others fear a conspiracy and are insistent that the search teams are looking in the wrong place.

“I used to be able to believe people,” said Dai Xuling, whose sister was on board. “But now I’ve turned to prayer and fortune-telling.”

Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese and some families - though they stress they are angry with Malaysia and the airline, not their own government - say their pain has been compounded by official pressure.

One woman, who asked to be called only Kelly, said she and another relative were detained after protesting at the Malaysia Airlines office. When other family members rushed to the station where she was being held, they were beaten.

“I was strangled by a tall officer and almost got choked. I tried to escape from him but about six or seven policemen came up and beat me. My daughter wanted to take a picture for evidence, but a policewoman took her mobile phone away and pushed her to the ground, dragging her hair. She too was forced into the interrogation room. I felt sad and desperate,” wrote one of those relatives.

According to other family members in a subsequent case, 14 adults and two small children were taken to the police station after they decided to spend the night at the Malaysia Airlines office. Police had earlier ordered them to leave, saying it was against regulations to stay there despite the permission of the company.

Another relative said almost 30 people had been taken to police stations at one time or another, and that hotels refused to accept their bookings for meetings.

“We have felt helpless and alone, as if we were abandoned by the government,” he said.

Beijing police said they would look into allegations of beatings and detentions.

Families say they want all data available about the flight, the precise methodology used in defining the search area, and other evidence such as footage of passengers boarding the plane. They complain that Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia have brushed such requests aside, giving them conflicting information and failing to respond at all to some queries.

There is particular anger at the decision to set up the Malaysian Airlines family support office in a distant suburb of Beijing - a long walk from the nearest bus and subway lines.

Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that it “has deeply invested and continues to invest in supporting the physical and emotional needs” of the families, saying it has been staying in touch with around 1,000 relatives through press statements, phone calls and emails.

“We are sparing no expense or effort to take care of them and that also means providing them with timely and accurate information.”

While the area under exploration is still vast, it is much smaller than the original 600,000 sq km search area. A detailed survey of the ocean floor in a zone far off the western coast of Australia has revealed features such as undersea volcanoes and steep cliffs.

Warren Truss, Australia's deputy prime minister, said last month that the next, more intensive phase of the hunt would cost around A$52m if it lasted 12 months, but that the searchers hoped they would find the plane sooner.

Even if the plane were found, it is far from clear what information it could yield after so long under such pressure.

Agencies