Family members start committee to deliver demands

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Some family members of passengers on board missing flight MH370 decided on Tuesday to set up a family member committee to better negotiate with Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government.

On Tuesday afternoon, a female representative of family members, one of the initiators of setting up the committee, made a speech calling for more relatives of the missing passengers to fill out a form to join the committee.

So far, 50 families had signed up to join the committee, with each family as a member of the committee, she said.

Malaysia Airlines said on Saturday afternoon that it will not hold any further news conferences now that a full-blown criminal investigation is underway. The probe was launched after the announcement that the aircraft was deliberately diverted from its route.

However, the air carrier said it will hold a briefing with the relatives and collect questions from relatives at 10 am every day at the Metropark Lido Hotel in Beijing, starting on Tuesday.

According to a statement from Malaysia Airlines, it has assigned each family a caregiver who will be available 24 hours a day. They have sent more than 100 staff members and caregivers to Beijing. The airline also provides counseling sessions every day and informs by phone those who did not attend the briefings, it said.

Shi Xianwu, 23, whose elder brother Shi Xianwen was aboard the missing flight, said on Tuesday that his family has signed to join the family-member committee because he thought Malaysia Airlines did not deliver on its promises.

He said families were not satisfied with the performance of Malaysia Airlines for lack of communication.

"Our family did not see any caregiver so far, and we did not receive any phone calls from the airline," he said.

As of Monday, 49 relatives had returned to their hometowns, according to the airline. But most of the family members are staying in Beijing awaiting news of the missing MH370.

Questions:

1. Why do some family members of passengers on missing Flight MH370 want to form a committee?

2. Where are many of the families staying in Beijing?

3. As of Monday, how many relatives had returned to their hometowns?

Answers:

1. To better negotiate with Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government.

2. The Metropark Lido Hotel.

3. 49.

About the broadcaster:

Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.