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Several families of Flight MH370 passengers have launched a campaign to collect $5m to reward any insider who comes forward and resolves the mystery of the Malaysian plane’s disappearance three months ago.
The Reward MH370 campaign will be conducted via fund-raising website Indiegogo and aims “to encourage a whistle-blower to come forward with information”, the families said in a press release.
The Malaysia Airlines passenger jet lost contact on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Two-thirds of them were from China.
The Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, but an extensive search has turned up no sign of wreckage so far, leaving frustrated and anguished families of those aboard suspecting a cover-up.
“We are convinced that somewhere, someone knows something, and we hope this reward will entice him or her to come forward,” said Ethan Hunt, a technology company chief who is heading the Reward MH370 project.
Sarah Bajc, partner of American passenger Philip Wood, said a handful of families were behind the campaign to look at the unprecedented aviation mystery with “a fresh set of eyes”.
“Governments and agencies have given it their best shot but have failed to turn up a single shred of evidence, either because of a faulty approach or due to intentional misdirection by one or more individuals,” she said in the press release.
Australia, which is leading the search far off its western coast, and Malaysia have promised that the hunt for the aircraft will continue.
An international team is now determining an expanded search zone of up to 60,000sqkm based on where the aircraft last communicated with an Inmarsat satellite.
Australia has also released a request for tenders for a company to be engaged as a prime contractor and provide the expertise, equipment and vessels needed to carry out the deep-sea search from August.
Malaysia has taken the brunt of criticism from upset relatives.
The country has insisted it is doing all it can and working closely with Australia, China and other countries to find the jet. — AFP
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