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“Miracles do happen, remote or otherwise, and that is the hope that the families want me to convey not only to the Malaysian government, MAS [Malaysia Airlines], but also to the world at large,” Malaysia’s Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, said yesterday, offering a faint glimmer of hope to families of the passengers onboard the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 that went missing on March 8 and has been presumed ‘lost’ in the Indian Ocean.
“I cannot give them [families and relatives of passengers of the missing flight] false hope. The best we can do is pray and be sensitive to them, that as long as there is even a remote chance of a survivor, we will pray and do whatever it takes,” he said.
“What they want from us is a commitment to continue the search, and that I have given. Not only on behalf of the Malaysian government, but the many nations involved,” said Hussein, who has become the face of the disaster with his daily media briefings.
“For me as the minister responsible, this is the hardest part of my life at the moment,” he added.
Hishammuddin Hussein and other Malaysian officials held a closed-door meeting with family members of local passengers and those from China, which lasted for about an hour on Saturday.
He said the families had asked for the search and rescue operation be continued; that the search team would persist in its mission no matter how remote the likelihood of finding any survivors; and for Malaysian Airlines to be more open in communicating with the families concerned, on any developments.
Asked about the families’ sentiments during the meeting, Hussein said he could sense “hope in their eyes”.
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