Distressed relatives of passengers on board the missing MH370 Malaysia Airlines flight are claiming they have made calls to the mobile phones of their loved ones, which have dialled and rung before disconnecting.
As the world continues to wait news of what happened to the Boeing 777 flight, carrying 239 people, which seems to have vanished without a trace less than one hour after take-off from Kuala Lumpur, mystified officials and relatives are increasingly frustrated.
Rumours have circulated that friends and family members of those missing were able to call their lost loved ones’ mobile phones and could ‘connect’ before the call was abruptly ended.
The mystery surrounding Flight MH370 has created a fertile breeding ground for speculation and caused some on the ground to question whether authorities are concealing valuable information. According to newspaper reports a petition with over 100 relative signatures has been submitted to Chinese Authorities demanding answers.
Singapore’s Straits Times has reported Mr Hugh Dunleavy, Commercial Director at Malaysia Airlines, said the airline was also trying the mobile phones of the crew members, and that they also rang. But it could not do more, he said, and had given the numbers to the Chinese authorities.
A board displaying messages for the passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is seen at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on March 11, 2014.
A board displaying messages for the passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is seen at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on March 11, 2014.
A board displaying messages for the passengers from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is seen at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on March 11, 2014.
The stories of phantom phone calls gives hope to the families who are holding onto the possibility that the plane has not crashed and the smartphone GPS systems could be used to locate the plane which may have landed somewhere.
However, other officials have dismissed the reports and warn that the rumours are just part of a heartless hoax to fuel conspiracy plots. MAS spokesman Ignatius Ong dismissed the reports, saying he had personally called one of the phones and failed to connect.
“I myself have called the number five times while the airline’s command centre also called the number. We got no answering tone,” said Ignatius.
Four days on, 10 countries have joined the search for the aircraft but there is still no sign of the plane or its passengers over the South China Sea, which has forced officials to widen the search area.
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