Missing MH370: Airline staff pelted with water bottles

BEIJING - Vexed family members of the Chinese nationals on board MH370 pelted four Malaysia Airlines employees with water bottles in Beijing.

This took place when the airline employees could not provide any updates on the missing flight, the New York Times reported.

"All Malaysians are liars!" one man yelled in Chinese, before adding: "Do you know what 'liars' means?"

"Tell him in English," the man shouted at one of the airline employees who was acting as an interpreter.

The other three were senior managers and included Mr Ignatius Ong Ming Choy, head of Malaysia Airlines' subsidiary budget airline, Firefly.

The first water bottle was thrown when Mr Ong asked those present who wished to fly to Kuala Lumpur and who wished to stay behind in Beijing, the report said.

China has also sent a team to Kuala Lumpur in a bid to get the Malaysian authorities to expedite the search and rescue mission.

The relatives declined to accept money from the airline on Tuesday. The airline said it had offered "financial assistance" of 31,000 yuan (S$6,400) to the family of each missing traveller.

But a relative of one of the passengers, from east China's Shandong province, told AFP: "We're not really interested in the money."

WAITING ANXIOUSLY

"It is all about the people - the people on the plane. We just want them back," she said at the Beijing hotel where relatives and friends of the 153 Chinese passengers were waiting anxiously for news.

Mr Ong, leader of the airline's response team in China, confirmed that the offer had not been taken up, saying that the passengers' relatives had asked the airline to "review" the terms of the acceptance form.

Emotions ran high as families broke for lunch, with one irate relative venting fury at the airlines staff for asking to see a meal ticket.

"Do you think that Malaysian food is delicious or what?" the man said, waving his arms around in a rage.

"This is the attitude of Malaysia Airlines towards the relatives.

"Your responsibility is to comfort people. Not to stop them and ask them for their ticket."

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