The Mystery of MH370 Remains Unsolved After 6 Months

       Six months ago, Malaysian Airlines flight 370 departing Kuala Lumpur never arrived at its destination, Beijing.  The disappearance still remains a mystery.  Was there a mechanical failure that no one was able to communicate?  A terrorist attack possibly?  Many other questions are still unanswered.  Where did the plane go down?  Were there any survivors at the time?  Are there still any currently alive?  It is seemingly a deep mystery, the Boeing 777 jet carrying 239 people on board just disappeared.  No part of the plane has yet been discovered, not a single piece of wreckage has been found.  Many authorities have convinced family members that the plane crashed on March 8, in the Southern Indian Ocean.  Satellite images provide a hint that the plane turned off of the intended course and likely went down when it ran out of fuel.  After six months, it is still a mystery why the plane strewed away from the flight path.  To this day, over 4.5 million square kilometres of sea floor have been scoured without one piece of wreckage found.  

       A lot of the focus of the news this week has been on remembering another air disaster, that being the tragedies of 9/11.  While it is true that the 3 000 people killed in the September 11th tragedies out numbers the 239 of this more recent catastrophe, there is a sickening element of mystery lingering in that of MH370.  While I am not saying by any means MH370 was worse than the diasaster that was 9/11, it is hard to stomach the fact that these people had families, and these families have no idea where their loved ones have gone.  The passengers ranged from 2 years old to 76.  It is tremendously difficult to carry out daily life routines for the families of the victims when they have not a clue of what has happened to their mothers, fathers, children, soulmates and friends.  Mao Tugui is a painter whom was aboard the flight, he was travelling to attend an exhibition that featured his work.  His wife, Hu Xianquan, has been telling their 4 year old daughter than her father is just spending a little extra time away painting.  Xianquan herself finds it incredibly difficult to deal with the news as she has no idea what has become of her husband.  She has no idea where he is, if he is going to return or if he is alive.  "I would prefer just to have the news that he is dead and his body has been recovered" said Xianquan.  I feel truly the same way.  Just imagining myself in that position losing my brother, mother or father this way is just antagonizing.  Not solely because he/she is dead, but also because I have no knowledge of the event, nobody does.  I truly do hope that the governments do find the plane to give the families of the deceased some well deserved closure.

William Deo

Adapted from: 

• http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/08/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-milestone/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
• http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/15/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-passenger-vignettes/