The fourth annual remembrance event organised by Voice370, the MH370 family support group, was a lively event filled with speeches, dance and musical performances and touching testimonials.
The search for MH370 is currently still ongoing after American seabed exploration company, Ocean Infinity Limited offered to search for the ill-fated aircraft on a “no cure no fee” in which payment would only be made if the aircraft wreckage is found within 90 days.
Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai had recently been quoted as saying that the latest effort to search for MH370 has covered an area of 8,200 sq km even though nothing has been found.
Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared from the radar while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 2014. A satellite signal later chartered its course as having taken a massive detour, turning back over Peninsular Malaysia and eventually ending up in the Southern Indian Ocean, about 2,000km off the coast of Western Australia.
Its disappearance has been dubbed one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.
The remembrance event today also included a multi-faith prayer session followed by a speech from MH370 response team head Azharuddin Abdul Rahman.
“We are working closely with Ocean Infinity and we will send our reports to all the MH370 next of kin in a timely manner. We will issue weekly reports to the public as well. Any findings from the search will be updated in the reports.
“Hopefully, we will be able to identify the location of MH370. How we report this to the public and the next of kin is something we are working on now.
“Rest assured we are monitoring this on a daily basis. We will take note of any findings through this current search,” he said.
‘Always in our conversations’
Jacquita Gonzales, wife of MH370 inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, painted a heartwarming picture of explaining the delicate situation to her grandchildren.
“We have a new grandchild now and she won’t be able to meet him but she will be always told about her grandfather, as he is always in our conversations.
“It has been four years and I can’t say we have moved on because we haven’t forgotten anything.
“We are thankful to the Malaysian government for allowing Ocean Infinity to continue the search and we still have a few more months, so hope is still there. Hopefully, we can put it all to rest.
“However, if we only get to see them in a different form so be it, I will accept that,” she said.
She expressed her gratitude for those who have been by their side these past four years.
“We are grateful for those who are here today and who are still with us. We will never forget those on board. They will still be in our hearts, prayers and in our minds.”
Grace Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, was on the plane, broke down on stage while trying to recollect the day of the incident.
She gathered herself and moved on to express her gratitude to those who attended today’s event.
“It means so much that you are here with us, we appreciate your commitment to this cause and the search.
“The way I feel now, I do not want anyone to go through this. We have to prevent this from ever happening again.
“I truly believe it’s not history , it’s the future and I want all of us to fly safe in the future.”