Relatives have accused Malaysian authorities of not doing enough as parts believed to be from the missing jet are found on Madagascan coast

The families of those lost aboard a Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing in 2014 will themselves comb the beaches of Madagascar this week in the hope of finding debris from the plane.

The families, who arrived on the island in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, have criticised Malaysian investigators for not doing enough to find debris, which could reveal more clues about what happened.



​The man on a solo mission to find ​the wreckage o​f​ flight MH370 Read more

Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014, sparking a search in the southern Indian Ocean that is still going on.

But many families say they have been dismayed by the failure of the deep-sea debris search more than 1,000 miles off Australia’s western coast, and by what they say is an apparent lack of interest from Malaysian authorities in the growing amount of debris washing up on the other side of the Indian Ocean.



This week, clutching homemade fliers showing what the debris looks like and what to do with it if found, seven bereaved relatives from China, Malaysia and France will travel along Madagascar’s remote coastline to raise awareness among locals and conduct beachcombing searches.



Most paid for their own flight tickets and accommodation, but some of the Chinese contingent were funded by broadcast journalists who travelled with them.

Some of the families will travel to Ile Sainte Marie off the north-east coast where debris and potential personal effects are thought to have been found in the past week.

Ghislain Wattrelos, 53, who lost his wife and two teenage children on MH370, said he had quit his job as a marketing director to ensure he would one day be able to give his remaining 23-year-old son some answers.



“I’m involved in this quest for truth because I don’t want him to be involved. One day I will tell him what happened,” he said.



“I will stop searching when I have a definitive answer. I think we will get it one day. I do believe that many people in this world have a small part of the truth and I don’t think they can hide it forever.”

Grace Subathirai Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer who lost her mother, Anne Daisy, on MH370, said the families were alarmed by the suggestion that unless “credible new evidence” was found the inquiry could soon be wound down.

“I can’t understand how they can say that they lack evidence to progress the investigation when there’s debris washing up here all the time,” she said in the Malagasy capital where the families gathered on Sunday to begin a search for debris.

“There is still so much to learn from this mystery. They must show that lives matter more than money.”

Nathan said that for most families, it was impossible to accept the worst until they had more answers. “In the logical part of your mind you accept that the plane is in the ocean and they can’t have survived but emotionally it’s different,” she said.

“I still talk about my mother in the present tense, I can never say she is gone. We haven’t been able to live as if she isn’t coming back. Until I see concrete proof, it’s hard to bridge that gap.”

After the discovery of a flaperon on La Reunion in July investigators confirmed the plane was unlikely to have been downed by the pilots since the wings had not been prepared for landing.

Blaine Gibson, a lawyer turned investigator who arrived on Madagascar six months ago, said he has seen debris from the plane used to fan a kitchen fire by a nine-year-old girl on the island.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Investigator Blaine Gibson shows off debris found in Madagascar that he believes could have come from MH370. Photograph: Blaine Gibson

“It was light and it was solid and it was part of the plane,” said Gibson, 59. “When I put the word out around the village, another guy turned up with another piece he had been using as a washing board for clothes.”

Gibson said that when tested the debris, which includes parts of the wings, tail and a seat-back from inside the cabin, could determine mechanical failure or external attack.



“They can test for traces of explosive or any sort of shrapnel, if it was a high-speed forceful impact, which is what it looks like because the pieces are small and shredded,” he said.

“The one piece I held in my hand that made tears stream down my face was the seat-back with a coat hook still attached. It’s a striking piece of evidence, powerful and significant because they will be able to tell what type of impact it was in the cabin.”

Debris found by Gibson on a trip to Madagascar in June had been languishing in storage there for months since, awaiting pickup by Malaysian authorities. Gibson said on 3 December that word of the MH370 family members’ trip had “finally” mobilised an investigator to collect it.

Aslam Khan, one of the Malaysian MH370 investigators who arrived in Antananarivo on Sunday to meet local officials and collect the debris, said it was incorrect to suggest the inquiry was winding down.

He said the criticism of the investigation team for its failure to collect the debris in the six months since it was found was “fair”, adding: “but my answer is that we are here now to collect the debris that is with the Madagascan authorities for examination”.



He said he would discuss with local officials whether it was worth funding a comprehensive search of the country’s 2,300-mile coast.



“As far as the investigation team of which I am a member is concerned we will go on until such time as we find some answers,” he said.

