'Meaningless' Mother's Day for family of MH370 passenger

ALOR STAR - It is a bleak Mother's Day for Tan Tuan Lay, the mother of Chew Kar Mooi, one of the passengers of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which vanished two months ago.

There will be no celebration for the mother of four this year, as the family had yet to come to terms with their loss, aggravated by the fact that there was still no sign of the ill-fated aircraft despite the massive search-and-recovery effort mounted from the day it went missing on March 8.

Tan, 53, said Kar Mooi was always excited about Mothers Day and would be the busiest person in the house with all the preparations.

"Mother's Day is meaningless to me without my baby girl, and the thought of not having her around during this time hurts.

"If I could ask for anything on this day, it would be my daughter's safe return."

Tan recalled the previous Mother's Day celebrations, when Kar Mooi, 32, treated her to scrumptious dishes and never failed to get her gifts on the special day.

"It is not about the presents, but her appreciation of me as her mother that mattered the most."

Kar Mooi, a Maybank employee, was among the 239 people onboard the jetliner, which went missing after departing from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing, China.

A multinational search effort in the Indian Ocean, where the aircraft is believed to have ended its journey, is ongoing.