MH370 mystery deepens as China 'fails to reveal why doomed flight really vanished'

The families of those who disappeared aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have still not been told why the flight vanished.

On March 8, 2014, 239 passengers had been flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when the jet mysteriously disappeared.

Despite the largest search in aviation history, neither the aircraft nor its black box have been found.

Relatives showed up at a Beijing court on Tuesday to demand answers.

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The court appearance follows a ruling in December which forced the carrier to pay eight families of Chinese passengers 2.9million yuan (£322,262).

"When I received the judgement and read the first-instance ruling, my first thought was that the court was insulting the families of the passengers, that it was mocking us," Li Eryou, 69, whose son was on the flight, said.

He added: "In 12 years, no one has ever apologised to us. I feel immense anger.

"This is an international case... but the first-instance judge treated it like nothing more than an ordinary local traffic accident, which is why the compensation amount ended up being so pitifully small."

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the doomed Boeing 777, said the court had not properly established the facts of the case.

He told AFP the court had only ruled on the "amount of compensation, which is not everything we, the families, are looking for".

"What matters to us is the establishment of the facts. That's our biggest demand," he added.

Malaysia last month pledged to continue searching for the aircraft for another year.

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Mr Hui said he was thankful for the extension and hoped families would be able to begin their own search efforts.

He said: "The plane isn't going to rise to the surface all on its own.

"Only by searching would we be able to find it."

Deep-sea exploration firm Ocean Infinity will continue searching for the wreckage in a 15,000 sq km area until 2027.

The firm will be paid a total of $70million (£52.6million), but only if the Malaysia flight is found.

Malaysia's Transport Minister Anthony Loke said: "This decision is a manifestation of the Government's continuous and unwavering commitment to provide a closure ⁠for the next of kin of the passengers aboard flight MH370."

A multinational effort from Malaysia, Australia and China was suspended in 2017 until new "credible evidence" emerged of the aircraft's location.

Theories around what caused MH370's downing include hypoxia - where the plane's cabin decompressed - and possible hijacking scenarios, but no consensus has been formed.

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