The list of passengers on board included 154 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 7 Indonesians, 6 Australians, 5 Indians, 4 Americans and 2 Canadians.
Indians, including three from one family, were identified as Chetna Kolekar, 55, Swanand Kolekar, 23, Vinod Kolekar, 59, Chandrika Sharma, 51, and Kranti Shirsatha, 44. Malaysia Airlines said, “On behalf of all of us at Malaysia Airlines and all Malaysians, our prayers go out to all the loved ones of the 226 passengers and of our 13 friends and colleagues at this enormously painful time.”
“We know there are no words that we or anyone else can say which can ease your pain. We will continue to provide assistance and support to you, as we have done since MH370 first disappeared in the early hours of 8 March, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing,” it said.
The airlines said the ongoing multinational search operation will continue, as authorities seek answers to the questions which remain. “Alongside the search for MH370, there is an intensive investigation, which we hope will also provide answers,” it said.
Families of the Chinese passengers were in disbelief when they heard the news. A woman screamed, “how can they lose contact at 2am and still see the flight at 8am?” Another relative said, “My son my daughter-in-law and granddaughter were all on board. All 3 family members are gone I am desperate.” Authorities believe that the plane was deliberately taken off-course after the communication system shutdown by someone on board.
Police have also interviewed more than 100 people, including the relatives of the pilot and the co-pilot to find out what may have caused the tragedy as they are looking at all possibilities, including hijacking, sabotage and terrorism.
Meanwhile, an Australian ship was trying to retrieve objects located in the southern Indian Ocean earlier in the day.
Two objects—the first grey or green and circular and the second orange and rectangular—located by an Australian P3 Orion aircraft in the area, Australian Premier Tony Abbott said.
A Chinese Ilyushin-76 plane reported spotting “white and square” objects in the same location. Chinese icebreaker Xuelong or Snow Dragon has changed course towards the area. Six more Chinese ships are on their way to the wider search location.
The US Navy today said it was rushing a ‘black box detector' to the Indian Ocean as part of global efforts to find the crucial device, which could help find the exact cause of the crash.
The Towed Pinger Locator 25 of the US Navy has the capacity to locate black boxes up to a maximum depth of 20,000 feet (6km), but it is essential to locate the debris area, Pentagon officials said.
French investigators said it was too soon to consider launching undersea searches for the remains of the plane. France's BEA accident investigation service, which had sent three investigators to Kuala Lumpur, said the “extremely vast areas (involved) do not make it possible at this stage to consider undersea searches.”
