Distraught
families fear a cover-up and hope 'Reward MH370' campaign encourages insider to
come forward
theguardian.com,
AFP, Sunday 8 June 2014
Students from an international school in the east China city Zhuji light candles for flight MH370. Photograph: ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images |
Several
families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 launched a drive on
Sunday to raise $5m for any insider who can resolve the mystery of the plane's
disappearance three months ago.
The “Reward
MH370” campaign launches on the fundraising website Indiegogo and aims to “to
encourage a whistleblower to come forward with information”, the families said
in a press release.
The
Malaysia Airlines jet lost contact on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to
Beijing with 239 people aboard, about two-thirds of them Chinese.
The Boeing
777 is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, but an extensive
search has found no wreckage; frustrated and anguished families suspect a
cover-up.
“We are
convinced that somewhere, someone knows something, and we hope this reward will
entice him or her to come forward,” said Ethan Hunt, a technology company chief
who is heading the project.
Sarah Bajc,
the partner of an American passenger, Philip Wood, said a handful of families
were behind the campaign to look at the unprecedented aviation mystery with “a
fresh set of eyes”.
“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,” she said.
Malaysia
and Australia, which is leading the search far off its western coast, have
promised that the search for the plane will continue.
An
international team is now determining an expanded search zone of up to 60,000
square kilometres based on where the aircraft last communicated with an
Inmarsat satellite.
Australia
has also released a request for tenders for a company to be engaged as a prime
contractor and provide the expertise, equipment and vessels needed to carry out
the deep-sea search from August.
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