ABC US News | ABC Business News
More than three weeks after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 disappeared, several dozen relatives of missing Chinese passengers demanded an apology from the Malaysian government that they said mishandled the investigation.
Family members, who had just arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Beijing today, held up banners in Chinese that read "We want evidence, truth, dignity" and "Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back" in English.
The group wanted an apology for what they see as missteps by the government and for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's earlier statement that suggested there were no survivors, according to the Associated Press.
The plane carrying 239 people en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China, vanished on March 8. In spite of an international search effort to find wreckage, there has been no sign of the plane.
In the Indian Ocean, search crews spent another day scouring the waters for any sign of wreckage or debris. Several objects were spotted by search crews on planes combing the search area, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. However, none were definitively connected to the missing jet.
Objects picked up by two ships on Saturday were described as flotsam and fishing equipment and were not believed to be related to Flight MH 370.
Eight planes and eight ships searched more than 97,000 square miles Sunday in the designated search area that's more than 1,000 miles from Perth, Australia. Another five ships were expected to arrive Monday to assist with the search and to help pick up debris.
A towed underwater pinger locator will be attached to an Australian warship that is set to depart Sunday from a port near Perth and will arrive at the search area in about three or four days.
"The ship will take part in the surface search until the debris is positively identified and an underwater search area is then predicted," said U.S. Navy Captain Mark Matthews the supervisor of U.S. Navy Salvage and Diving, who arrived in Perth with his team to help with the search.
The pinger locator will be used to search for the black boxes from Flight MH 370. The boxes are designed to ping when underwater, although the manufacturer only guarantees enough battery life to last 30 days, giving teams under a week before the battery runs out.
Malaysia Airlines released a statement Sunday saying they would arrange for family members to fly to Perth, Australia, only after wreckage linked to the missing plane is confirmed.
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