MH370 Families Campaign for Private Investigator
This week marks three months since the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 crash, and still the search continues, with the victims’ families taking matters into their own hands.
Frustrated by the progress of the investigation, families of the people lost on MH370 have announced a $US5,000,000 reward for any information that leads to a breakthrough. The families are hoping a whistleblower will come forward with information that has been purposely covered up, according to this Sky News report released yesterday. News.com.au reported that the money would also go towards paying for a private investigator.
Sarah Bajc, a widow of flight MH370, is driving the campaign, and reportedly said “Governments and agencies have given it their best shot but have failed to turn up a single shred of evidence, either because of a faulty approach or due to intentional misdirection by one or more individuals. It is time we took a look at this mystery with a fresh set of eyes.”
She is unconvinced by the continued lack of information, saying to Sky News that “I am certain there’s been a cover-up… I’m not sure who is doing it or why they’re doing it, whether it was an intentional act that’s being obscured or whether there was a genuine bad thing that happened and people are trying not to let that come to life… But we do honestly believe that somewhere there is a person who knows something that will allow us to find the plane and find our loved ones.”
Another member of the campaign, Perth resident Danica Weeks who lost her husband on MH370, said that the slow progress and contradictory information has left the families with no choice but to seek their own answers. “We’ve been cut off so many times at the gate that we’re now having to take things into our own hands, think outside the box and just try to do something to find this plane,” she said, according to News.com.au.
The campaign members have demanded a meeting with the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and the investigators leading the search. The Malaysian Prime Minister has promised to meet with them, following his trip to Canberra this week to hear the investigation reports from the investigators’ detailed satellite analysis.
Among the party meeting in Canberra is the head of Malaysia’s Civil Aviation Department, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman. When asked to respond to the news that the victims’ families were raising money to fund a private investigator and encourage whistleblowers, Mr Azharuddin said the officials working on the MH370 search hoped the families would share any results that come from their private investigation.
While in Canberra, the Malaysian and Australian governments will be discussing how to proceed with the MH370 search. They are now considering alternative investigation options, including hiring a private investigator.
Last week, the Australian Transport Safety Board issued a tender for private contractors and private investigators to take on the deep-water search. The SMH reports that a commercial operator will likely begin its search in August, and could continue the search for up to a year.
The report also said that investigators are revising some of their core assumptions about the MH370 crash, and about the Malaysian Airlines plane’s final position. They’re expecting an announcement about this by mid-June, however that isn’t soon enough for the families of the lost passengers, who will continue their campaign to fund their own private investigator to uncover the truth about flight MH370.