KUALA LUMPUR: Several families of those aboard Flight MH370 yesterday launched a drive to raise $5m to reward any insider who comes forward and resolves the mystery of the plane’s disappearance exactly three months ago.
The “Reward MH370” campaign launches on fundraising website Indiegogo and aims to raise at least $5m “to encourage a whistle-blower to come forward with information”, the families said in a press release. The Malaysia Airlines jet lost contact on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard — about two-thirds of them Chinese.
The Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, but an extensive search has turned up no sign of wreckage so far, leaving frustrated and anguished families of those aboard suspecting a cover-up.
“We are convinced that somewhere, someone knows something, and we hope this reward will entice him or her to come forward,” said Ethan Hunt, a technology company chief who is heading the “Reward MH370” project.
China defends oil rig in dispute
with Vietnam
BEIJING: China late yesterday issued a lengthy defence of its use of an oil rig in contested waters that is at the centre of a bitter dispute with Vietnam.
A statement on the foreign ministry website, relayed in full by the official news agency Xinhua, said the drilling operations near the Paracel Islands fell within China’s “sovereignty and jurisdiction”.
It also accused Vietnam of acting aggressively towards Chinese personnel, accusing Vietnamese vessels of “illegally and forcefully disrupting” work there and of ramming Chinese boats.
The oil rig is in the vicinity of the contested Paracel Islands, which are known as Hoang Sa in Vietnam and called Xisha by Beijing. Relations between Vietnam and China have plummeted over the oil rig’s presence, which has worsened an increasingly heated dispute over territorial claims in the area.
On Friday, Vietnam released dramatic footage showing a large Chinese ship chasing and ramming one of its fishing boats which then sank near the rig.
Agencies
