On first anniversary of plane’s disappearance, report reveals nothing unusual except that locator beacon battery had already expired before MH370 vanished

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A report published on the first anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been condemned by relatives of the missing passengers after failing to shed any light on what happened.

The report, published on Sunday, reveals the battery in an underwater locator beacon had expired more than a year before the flight carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished without trace. But the significance of the finding has been called into question, as the locator beacon may not have been detectable anyway at the great depths to which the aircraft is thought to have descended in the Indian Ocean.

The 584-page report by an independent investigation group went into minute details of the crew’s lives, their medical and financial records and their training, before detailing the aircraft’s service record and maintenance schedule, along with weather, communications systems and other aspects, but found nothing unusual other than the battery’s expiry date.

Sarah Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on board the flight, criticised the fact that investigators had only interviewed 120 people. “That’s less than our tiny underfunded private investigation has done,” she told the BBC, referring to a private inquiry launched by a group of relatives.

Another relative, who declined to be named, told the BBC that the report was “useless”.

Intan Maizura Othman, whose husband, Hazrin Hasnan, was a flight attendant on the plane, said she did not intend to read the report because it would not be of any use in the search for the truth.

In Beijing, relatives who have bitterly criticised Malaysia’s national carrier and government for their handling of the crisis, gathered under a heavy police presence to mark the anniversary.

Shouting slogans including “Fight to the end” and “Malaysian government – apologise to us!”, they mounted a small protest near the Malaysian embassy, which was blocked off by dozens of uniformed security personnel.

In Kuala Lumpur families and friends of the missing urged authorities never to abandon the expensive and arduous search.

Last August the Australian government awarded a A$52m (£26m) contract for the search to a Dutch company after allocating A$90m for the search costs in June.

The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, said: “The lack of answers and definitive proof – such as aircraft wreckage – has made this more difficult to bear.

“Together with our international partners, we have followed the little evidence that exists. Malaysia remains committed to the search, and hopeful that MH370 will be found.”

“The only answer I want is where is the plane, then only will we know,” Jacquita Gonzales, wife of the flight’s cabin crew supervisor, Patrick Gomes, told Agence France-Presse. “The whole world has heard what he [Najib] has said, so they can’t go back on their word.”

A temporarily wall erected for the occasion in Kuala Lumpur contained scrawled messages such as “Never give up hope” and “I miss you so much brother and sister, please come back.”

Flight MH370 anniversary: search teams persist as families' wait goes on Read more

Najib’s Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, said that while the search, which has already taken in a huge area, was not without limit there was another 60,000 sq km of deep ocean that it would search. Abbott said this was necessary for both for the families of the dead, six of whom were Australian, and the travelling public.

“It is one of the great mysteries of the 21st century and I know that there will be a nagging doubt in the minds of billions of people until such time as we can find that plane,” he told reporters in Sydney.



“It can’t go on forever but, as long as there are reasonable leads, the search will go on.”





Facebook Twitter Pinterest Balloons with messages for the passengers of missing flight MH370 during a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur. Photograph: Azhar Rahim/EPA

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Beijing, China: Catherine Gang, whose husband was a missing passenger on flight MH370, holds a sign as she and other relatives protest outside the Malaysia embassy. Photograph: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Although the battery of the aircraft’s underwater locator beacon had run out more than a year before, according to the report, the battery on the locator beacon of the cockpit voice recorder was working. David Learmount, operations and safety editor of Flightglobal aviation news publication, said the underwater beacon would not be detectable in the depths of the Indian Ocean.

“This finding is of no significance,” he said. “The report really has not explained anything about this flight.”

In the aftermath of the disappearance there was intense focus on the flight’s captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and his co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid. The report said: “There were no behavioural signs of social isolation, change in habits or interest, self-neglect, drug or alcohol abuse of the captain, first officer and the cabin crew.”

Malaysia’s government has already formally declared the disappearance of the plane as an accident and said all those on board are presumed dead.

Ministers from Australia, China and Malaysia are expected to meet next month to decide on the next course of action for the wide-ranging search.



The Australian-led search has now trawled about 43% of the 60,000 sq km priority zone in the southern Indian Ocean. Underwater sonar mapping revealed extremely mountainous terrain, making the search particularly difficult.

The underwater search is expected to run until May before weather conditions in the southern hemisphere winter deteriorate and enforce a pause.

Flight MH370 disappearance – timeline Read more

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report