Relatives of the passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been asked to leave their hotel accommodation and return to the comfort of their own homes.
On May 7, the airline will close the family assistance centres set up after the plane disappeared on March 8 but has promised to keep relatives updated on the search via telephone calls, messages, the internet and face-to-face meetings,
In a statement yesterday, it said: "Malaysia Airlines is acutely conscious of, and deeply sympathetic to the continuing unimaginable anguish, distress and hardship suffered by those with loved ones on board the flight."
But it said the search would be a "prolonged process" and so instead of staying in hotels, families are advised to receive information updates "within the comfort of their own homes".
It also said it would soon be making "advanced compensation payments" to the passengers’ nominated next-of-kin but that these payments would not affect their rights to claim further compensation at a later stage.
A preliminary report, released yesterday afternoon, showed that air traffic controllers did not realise the plane was missing until 17 minutes after it disappeared off radar.
Then there was a four-hour delay before the search operation began.
The plane went missing over the South China Sea as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 on board.
Officials leading the search warned yesterday it could take up to a year to find the missing aircraft.
