Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
- NEW: Malaysia Airlines closing relatives' support centers, urging relatives to return home
- NEW: Relatives wail, yell after being told to go home
- NEW: Airline says it will open "family support centers" in Beijing and Malaysia's capital
- GeoResonance talks about its wreckage claim but won't give specifics on technology
Beijing (CNN) -- Malaysia Airlines said Thursday it would soon close the hotel support centers where relatives of vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 passengers have gathered for weeks, sparking a new wave of anguish and despair for the hundreds who got the news at a Beijing hotel.
Family members at Beijing's Lido Hotel wailed and yelled after airline officials urged them to return home, saying that with the 54-day search entering a new phase, it would no longer hold daily briefings at the hotels where the airline had been hosting them.
"What can we do?" a relative yelled, as others kneeled in front of police who had assembled in the hotel briefing room to keep order.
"Who will find our family members?" another shouted.
Malaysian teen still tweets missing dad
MH370 partner: I hope it's not the plane
Co.: MH370 search began in wrong place
An autonomous underwater vehicle is brought back aboard the Australian ship Ocean Shield after a search mission for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean on Saturday, April 19.
A Royal Malaysian Air Force plane takes off from an airbase near Perth, Australia, to help in the search on Thursday, April 17.
Operators aboard the Australian ship Ocean Shield move Bluefin-21, the U.S. Navy's autonomous underwater vehicle, into position to search for the jet on Monday, April 14.
A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks out of a window while searching for debris off the coast of western Australia on Sunday, April 13.
British Royal Navy sailors aboard the vessel HMS Echo take part in the search for the jet on April 13.
Crew members aboard the Echo watch a smaller boat that's part of the British search effort on April 13.
The Echo moves through the waters of the southern Indian Ocean.
A map provided Saturday, April 12, details efforts to find the missing jet.
Chinese navy personnel head out on a boat to the Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Success on Wednesday, April 9.
A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search, flies past the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 9.
A relative of a missing passenger cries at a vigil in Beijing on Tuesday, April 8.
A member of the Royal Australian Air Force walks toward a plane that just arrived in Perth on April 8.
Australian Defense Force divers scan the water for debris Monday, April 7, in the southern Indian Ocean.
A towed pinger locator is readied to be deployed April 7 off the deck of the Australian vessel Ocean Shield.
Capt. Mark Matthews of the U.S. Navy talks to reporters in Perth about the search on April 7.
A member of the search operation points to a map outlining search areas during a news conference April 7 in Perth.
A U.S. Navy airplane takes off from Perth to assist in the search on April 7.
A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks at a flare in the Indian Ocean during search operations on Friday, April 4.
Members of the Royal New Zealand Air Force monitor data April 4 on board an aircraft during search operations.
A relative of a Flight 370 passenger watches television in a Beijing hotel as he awaits new information about the missing plane on Thursday, April 3.
Another relative of a Flight 370 passenger waits for updates in Beijing on Wednesday, April 2. Many families have criticized the Malaysian government's handling of information in the plane's disappearance.
A member of the Japanese coast guard points to a flight position data screen while searching for debris from the missing jet on Tuesday, April 1.
Kojiro Tanaka, head of the Japanese coast guard search mission, explains the efforts en route to the search zone April 1.
A woman prepares for an event in honor of those aboard Flight 370 on Sunday, March 30, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
An underwater search-surveying vehicle sits on the wharf in Perth, ready to be fitted to a ship to aid in the search for the jet.
A girl in Kuala Lumpur writes a note during a ceremony for the missing passengers on March 30.
A teary-eyed woman listens from the back as other relatives of Flight 370 passengers speak to reporters March 30 in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. Dozens of anguished Chinese relatives demanded that Malaysia provide answers to the fate of those on board.
An object floating in the southern Indian Ocean is seen from a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion aircraft searching for the missing jet on Saturday, March 29. Ships participating in the search retrieved new debris Saturday, but no objects linked to the missing plane, according to Australian authorities.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force member launches a GPS marker buoy over the southern Indian Ocean on March 29.
The sole representative for the families of Flight 370 passengers leaves a conference at a Beijing hotel on Friday, March 28, after other relatives left en masse to protest the Malaysian government's response to their questions.
A member of the Royal Australian Air Force is silhouetted against the southern Indian Ocean during the search for the missing jet on Thursday, March 27.
Flight Lt. Jayson Nichols looks at a map aboard a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft during a search on March 27.
People in Kuala Lumpur light candles during a ceremony held for the missing flight's passengers on March 27.
Crew members of the Chinese icebreaking ship Xuelong scan the Indian Ocean during a search for the missing jet on Wednesday, March 26.
People work at a console at the British satellite company Inmarsat on Tuesday, March 25, in London.
The mother of a passenger who was on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 cries at her home in Medan, Indonesia, on March 25.
Australian Defense Minister David Johnston speaks to the media March 25 about the search for the missing jet.
A family member of a missing passenger reacts after hearing the latest news March 25 in Kuala Lumpur.
Angry relatives of those aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 react in Beijing on Monday, March 24, after hearing that the plane went down over the southern Indian Ocean, according to analysis of satellite data.
Grieving relatives of missing passengers leave a hotel in Beijing on March 24.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, delivers a statement about the flight March 24 in Kuala Lumpur. Razak's announcement came after the airline sent a text message to relatives saying it "deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH 370 has been lost and that none of those onboard survived."
Relatives of the missing passengers hold a candlelight vigil in Beijing on March 24.
A member of the Royal Australian Air Force looks out an aircraft during a search for the missing jet March 24.
A woman reads messages for missing passengers at a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur on March 24.
Flight Lt. Josh Williams of the Royal Australian Air Force operates the controls of an AP-3C Orion on Sunday, March 23, after searching the southern Indian Ocean.
Ground crew members wave to a Japanese Maritime Defense Force patrol plane as it leaves the Royal Malaysian Air Force base in Subang, Malaysia, on Sunday, March 23. The plane was heading to Australia to join a search-and-rescue operation.
A passenger views a weather map in the departures terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday, March 22.
A Chinese satellite captured this image, released on March 22, of a floating object in the Indian Ocean, according to China's State Administration of Science. It is a possible lead in the search for the missing plane. Surveillance planes are looking for two objects spotted by satellite imagery in remote, treacherous waters more than 1,400 miles from the west coast of Australia.
A member of the Royal Australian Air Force looks down at the Norwegian merchant ship Hoegh St. Petersburg, which took part in search operations Friday, March 21.
The Royal Australian Air Force's Neville Dawson, left, goes over the search area with Brittany Sharpe aboard an AP-3C Orion some 2,500 kilometers (about 1,500 miles) southwest of Perth, Australia, over the Indian Ocean on March 21.
Satellite imagery provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on Thursday, March 20, shows debris in the southern Indian Ocean that could be from Flight 370. The announcement by Australian officials that they had spotted something raised hopes of a breakthrough in the frustrating search.
A closer look at the satellite shot of possible debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Another satellite shot provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shows possible debris from the flight.
A closer look at the satellite shot of possible debris.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority's John Young speaks to the media in Canberra, Australia, on March 20 about satellite imagery.
A distraught relative of a missing passenger breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Wednesday, March 19.
A relative of missing passengers waits for a news briefing by officials in Beijing on Tuesday, March 18.
A relative of a missing passenger tells reporters in Beijing about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet.
A member of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency joins in a search for the missing plane in the AndamanSea area around the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra on Monday, March 17.
Relatives of missing passengers watch a news program about the missing plane as they await information at a hotel ballroom in Beijing on March 17.
Malaysian Transportation Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, center, shows maps of the search area at a hotel next to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 17.
U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations Sunday, March 16, in the Indian Ocean.
Indonesian personnel watch over high seas during a search operation in the Andaman Sea on Saturday, March 15.
A foam plane, which has personalized messages for the missing flight's passengers, is seen at a viewing gallery March 15 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
A member of the Malaysian navy makes a call as his ship approaches a Chinese coast guard ship in the South China Sea on March 15.
A Indonesian ship heads to the Andaman Sea during a search operation near the tip of Sumatra, Indonesia, on March 15.
Elementary school students pray for the missing passengers during class in Medan, Indonesia, on March 15.
Col. Vu Duc Long of the Vietnam air force fields reporters' questions at an air base in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after a search operation on Friday, March 14.
Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on Thursday, March 13. The search area for Flight 370 has grown wider. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, efforts are expanding west into the Indian Ocean.
A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13.
Malaysian air force members look for debris on March 13 near Kuala Lumpur.
A relative of a missing passenger watches TV at a Beijing hotel as she waits for the latest news March 13.
A member of the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency scans the horizon in the Strait of Malacca on Wednesday, March 12.
Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12.
Journalists raise their hands to ask questions during a news conference in Sepang on March 12.
Indonesian air force officers in Medan, Indonesia, examine a map of the Strait of Malacca on March 12.
A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on Tuesday, March 11.
Iranians Pouri Nourmohammadi, second left, and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza, far right, were identified by Interpol as the two men who used stolen passports to board the flight. But there's no evidence to suggest either was connected to any terrorist organizations, according to Malaysian investigators. Malaysian police believe Nourmohammadi was trying to emigrate to Germany using the stolen Austrian passport.
An Indonesian navy crew member scans an area of the South China Sea bordering Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on Monday, March 10.
Vietnam air force Col. Le Huu Hanh is reflected on the navigation control panel of a plane that is part of the search operation over the South China Sea on March 10.
Relatives of the missing flight's passengers wait in a Beijing hotel room on March 10.
A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews before returning to search for the missing plane Sunday, March 9, in the Gulf of Thailand.
Members of the Fo Guang Shan rescue team offer a special prayer March 9 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
A handout picture provided by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency shows personnel checking a radar screen during search-and-rescue operations March 9.
Italian tourist Luigi Maraldi, who reported his passport stolen in August, shows his current passport during a news conference at a police station in Phuket island, Thailand, on March 9. Two passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight were reportedly traveling on stolen passports belonging to Maraldi and an Austrian citizen whose papers were stolen two years ago.
Hugh Dunleavy, commercial director of Malaysia Airlines, speaks to journalists March 9 at a Beijing hotel where relatives and friends of the missing flight's passengers are staying.
Vietnamese air force crew stand in front of a plane at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on March 9 before heading out to the area between Vietnam and Malaysia where the airliner vanished.
Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9.
The Chinese navy warship Jinggangshan prepares to leave Zhanjiang Port early on March 9 to assist in search-and-rescue operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. The Jinggangshan, an amphibious landing ship, is loaded with lifesaving equipment, underwater detection devices and supplies of oil, water and food.
Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9. The vessel is carrying 12 divers and will rendezvous with another rescue vessel on its way to the area where contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea.
A family member of missing passengers is mobbed by journalists at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday, March 8.
A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported March 8. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8.
Malaysia Airlines official Joshua Law Kok Hwa, center, speaks to reporters in Beijing on March 8.
A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8.
Wang Yue, director of marketing of Malaysia Airlines in China, reads a company statement during a news conference at the Metro Park Lido Hotel in Beijing on March 8.
Chinese police at the Beijing airport stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight 370 in red on March 8.
A woman asks a staff member at the Beijing airport for more information on the missing flight.
A Malaysian man who says he has relatives on board the missing plane talks to journalists at the Beijing airport on March 8.
Passengers walk past a Malaysia Airlines sign on March 8 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a news conference on March 8 at a hotel in Sepang. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said.
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The briefing at the Lido Hotel, where hundreds of relatives of Flight 370 passengers remained, came on the day that the Malaysian government released its preliminary report on the plane's March 8 disappearance.
Centers closing by next week
The airline, which has hosted the families at hotels in China and Malaysia since March, said the Lido center would close Friday and all others by May 7.
"Instead of staying in hotels, the families of MH370 are advised to receive information updates on the progress of the search and investigation and other support by Malaysia Airlines within the comfort of their own homes, with the support and care of their families and friends," the airline said in a news release.
The Lido Hotel has been an important hub of information for relatives in China. More than 100 passengers on the plane are Chinese.
The airline said it would open "family support centers" in Beijing and Malaysia's capital; it wasn't immediately clear what those centers would do.
Airline to begin compensation payments
The airline also said Thursday it would begin making advance compensation to the Flight 370 passengers' next-of-kin, to help with their immediate economic needs.
Under an international treaty known as the Montreal Convention, the airline must pay relatives of each deceased passenger an initial sum of around $150,000 to $175,000. Relatives of victims can also sue for further damages.
The airline didn't say how much of an advance the families would receive.
"Such advanced payments will not affect the rights of the next-of-kin to claim compensation according to the law at a later stage, and will be calculated as part of the final compensation," the airline's news release said.
'People started to break down'
Sarah Bajc, the American partner of Flight 370 passenger Philip Wood, said she was one of about 500 people at Thursday's Lido Hotel meeting.
The briefing began with the airline's CEO making a seven-minute statement in English by video, Bajc said. Most of the relatives didn't understand the message until a Chinese translation was given afterward, she said.
"That's when people started to break down," she said.
Officials play MH370 audio to families
Expansion of MH370 search to cost $56m
Interview with Malaysian Prime Minister
Bajc said she left the room, saying the scene started to feel tense.
"I could hear a lot of yelling. Some of the police officers that were outside went in, and they started to file family members out through a separate exit," she told CNN's "New Day."
Calm was later restored when Chinese officials continued the briefing and ensured the families that the search would continue, and that the relatives wouldn't be forgotten, a CNN crew outside the briefing room reported.
Bajc said Chinese relatives previously told her they dreaded the day that the hotel centers would close, fearing they wouldn't get timely updates at their rural homes.
"They are very distraught, because the average Chinese family member will be sent home to mostly a very rural place with limited access to (the) Internet, and they just feel like all lines of communications will be cut," she said.
MH370 report: four-hour gap before official search began
The news of the hotel center closures came on the day the Malaysian government publicly released the initial report on the plane's disappearance -- the report that it initially sent to the to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the U.N. body for global aviation.
The report said officials apparently didn't notice for 17 minutes that the flight had gone off radar -- and didn't activate an official rescue operation for four hours.
It wasn't immediately clear whether officials also gave the report to the relatives at the Lido Hotel on Thursday night. Bajc, who left the meeting early, said she hadn't received it.
GeoResonance defends Bay of Bengal claim
Meanwhile, the private company that says it may have found plane wreckage in the Bay of Bengal defended its claim, even though it wouldn't detail the technology it used.
GeoResonance said it used spectral analysis from satellite and plane images to reach its conclusion about the Bay of Bengal site.
The company said it conducted "large scale remote sensing" and detected the presence of aluminum, titanium and copper. Scientists went back to test for other elements that the company says make up a commercial jet.
GeoResonance has faced questions about how it could have found wreckage deep underwater, thousands of miles from the official search area.
"What we say to those people is that that is not about technology, that is about the fact that an object or a combination of objects which produce exactly the same signal as materials used in a plane are detected," GeoResonance Managing Director Pavel Kursa told CNN's Anna Coren.
The company said its search was self-funded and it wants to keep intellectual property private.
"Our technology comprises of 20 different technologies, and a lot of it is very valuable intellectual property," director David Pope said. "And we are not in the business of just giving out intellectual property for nothing."
Analyst: Experts don't support claim
The company said its analysis was done by a team of its scientists in Europe. But GeoResonance declined to name the scientists or the country they worked in and declined to give a reason.
CNN aviation expert Miles O'Brien said GeoResonance's claims are not supported by experts.
"My blood is boiling," he told CNN's "New Day." "I've talked to the leading experts in satellite imaging capability at NASA, and they know of no technology that is capable of doing this. I am just horrified that a company would use this event to gain attention like this."
Nevertheless, the company got its wish Wednesday, when Bangladesh sent two navy vessels into the Bay of Bengal to the location cited by GeoResonance.
The chief coordinator of the international search effort, Australian Angus Houston, held out little optimism that any such search would prove fruitful. He told Sky News International that the search area in the Indian Ocean had been set based on pings believed to have come from one or both of the plane's voice and data recorders.
"The advice from the experts is that's probably where the aircraft lost power and, somewhere close to that, it probably entered the water," he said.
But some aviation experts said officials have little choice but to look into the company's claim.
"The investigators are going to be hard-pressed to blow this off," said Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation. "I think at this point, because of the lack of results where they've been searching for six weeks, they're almost stuck. They have to go look."
READ: Searchers dispute company's claim that it may have found aircraft wreckage
READ: Is GeoResonance on to something?
READ: MH370: Plane audio recording played in public for first time to Chinese families
CNN's David McKenzie reported from Beijing. CNN's Jason Hanna and Holly Yan wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Tom Watkins, Allen Shum and Dayu Zhang contributed to this report.
