Families of MH370 victims told to prepare for DNA sampling
Families of those on board the missing flight MH370 have been told to prepare for a move by Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and the authorities to collect DNA samples, similar to the exercise done during the MH17 tragedy.
Syafinaz Hasnan, the sister of flight attendant Mohd Hazrin Hasnan, who was among the 12 crew members on board the ill-fated flight that went missing on March 8, said this was announced during the two-hour briefing session held at the MAS Academy in Kelana Jaya last night.
“They said we now need to provide our DNA samples to the authorities for safekeeping and in case they found the wreckage or remains.
"This is the first time they have made an official announcement on DNA samples. Prior to this, we only heard stories that they had taken samples from a few family members,” said Syafinaz.
As no specific dates were mentioned on when the exercise would commence, she asked how MAS planned to execute it.
“We were told that we can give ours tonight (last night) but we don't see any medical team around.
"I wonder how they are going to do this. Do they expect us to get a cotton bud and start swiping our mouth for saliva and handed it over to them?” asked Syafinaz.
During the MH17 tragedy, it was reported that 16 task groups, comprising of officials from the Health Ministry and police, were involved in the process of obtaining swabs from family members at the Marriot Hotel Putrajaya.
DNA sampling involving heirs from other states who could not make it to Putrajaya were managed by the ministry and police in their respective state.
Syafinaz, who was at the briefing with another sibling and Hazrin’s wife, Intan Maizura Othman, added that apart from the DNA sampling announcement, the rest of the session was a waste of time.
“There's practically no new information. We were shown slides of the seventh arc where the plane is suspected to be, the seabed and how it looked like.
"Everything was too technical. The other families and I were clueless as to the objective of all this. What are they trying to tell us?
"I just wish they could use layman's term instead of all the jargons and technical terms.”
Shafinaz said there was also a brief moment of tension in the room when the committee chairman Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin was about to start the session.
“Of course we were unhappy... The last session was in April,” she said.
Lee Khim Fatt, husband of MH370 crew member Foong Wai Yueng, also described the session as pointless.
Apart from slides, he said families were also shown videos and clippings of articles on the search and recovery operation.
“What they told us, we already knew. Before coming, I suspected that this was going to be a waste of time,” said Lee.
He said there were about 35 family members of Malaysian passengers and crew at the briefing and most of them appeared to show little interest in it.
On March 8, flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur with 12 crew members and 227 passengers bound for Beijing.
The aircraft dropped off the radar about an hour after departure and has not been seen or located since then.
Despite the biggest and costliest search and rescue operation mounted in aviation history, authorities have not been able to trace the missing aircraft which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. – December 3, 2014.
