Mum of MH370 victim still messages missing child daily
Families of passengers on board MH370 have found it almost impossible to move on since that fateful morning on March 8 when the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared.
Mdm Zhang Mei Ling, whose daughter, Xiaomo Bai, was on board the Boeing 777 with and son-in-law, Muktesh Mukherjee. Mdm Zhang, who still believes her daughter is still alive, writes messages to her 37-year-old child, reported CBC.
"I write that I miss her and I'm asking where she is," said Mdm Zhang.
She cared for the missing couple's two young boys while they were in Beijing before sending them back to school in England to live with their paternal grandparents.
Bai Xiaomo, 37 and her husband Muktesh Mukherjee were heading back to Beijing after a romantic beach getaway to Vietnam. PHOTO: The Star
"I firmly believe they are alive...I think they are being held hostage now," she added.
Despite the announcement from Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak revealing the search had been moved from rescue to recovery of the bodies, Mdm Zhang is holding on to the hope that she will see her daughter again someday.
"During this six months, it's been this belief that supports me," she said.
It has been six months since the plane, which was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations, disappeared after losing contact with air traffic control less than an hour after takeoff.
Other grieving families held an emotional gathering in Beijing on Monday (Sept 8) at the Lama Temple, a popular Tibetan Buddhist site, to vent their frustration and pray for the missing.
Family members of passengers onboard the missing flight MH370, grieve as they gather to pray Yonghegong Lama Temple in Beijing. PHOTO: Reuters
"I'm calling on the kind people of the world to hurry up and rescue my child,” said another woman, who declined to give her name. "Rescue my child. We can’t live on."
Chinese passengers account for about two-thirds of the 239 people aboard, reported AFP.
Australia has been spearheading the hunt for the plane, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean but the massive air, sea and underwater search has so far failed to find any wreckage.
As plainclothes and uniformed police looked on in Beijing, several family members related stories of harassment by Chinese authorities.
In June, a dozen family members were arrested – including children aged six and four – and some beaten after seeking answers from the Malaysia Airlines office in the capital.
Grieving families are further distressed after Chinese authorities' bullying. PHOTO: AFP
Dai Shuqin, a 61-year-old worker from Beijing whose younger sister and her family were aboard MH370, said she was among those who had been detained, AFP wrote.
"We don’t understand it; we’re just ordinary people," she said.
"Some of us want to take our own lives – climb up a tall building and kill ourselves,” she whispered. “We’re being bullied so much. Our country is not protecting us at all. How can we live?"
Sources: CBC and AFP
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