‘My heart breaks…and no words can ease that pain’ – Ahmad Jauhari

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MAS chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof (right) and Ahmad Jauhari answering media questions on the search for the missing flight MH370 in southern Indian Ocean during press conference in KLIA in Sepang. — Bernama photo

SEPANG: “My heart breaks to think of the unimaginable pain suffered by the families and no words can ease that pain,” said Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS) group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya.

After the press conference on MH370 earlier yesterday, Ahmad Jauhari said he did not only say it as the CEO of MAS but also as a parent and son.

“Everyone in the MAS family is praying for the 239 souls on MH370 and for their loved ones on this dark day. We (MAS) extend our prayers and sincere condolences to the victims’ families,” said Ahmad Jauhari who was visibly in tears Monday night when the Prime Minister announced the aircraft’s fate.

He said that the entire MAS staff felt enormous sorrow and pain.

“Sorrow that all those who boarded Flight MH370 on March 8, will not see their families again.

“And that those families will now have to live on without their loved ones. It must be remembered too that 13 of our own colleagues and fellow Malaysians were also on board.

“And let me be very clear on the events of yesterday evening, our (MAS) sole and only motivation last night was to ensure that in the incredibly short amount of time available to us, the families heard the tragic news before the world did,” he said. He added that wherever humanely possible, MAS did so in person with the families or by telephone, using short messages (SMS) only as an additional means of ensuring that the nearly 1,000 family members heard the news from the airline and not from the media. Ahmad Jauhari added that like everyone else, MAS had also been waiting for news from the authorities.

“We know that while there have been an increasing number of apparent leads, definitive identification of any piece of debris is still missing. It is impossible to predict how long this will take. But after 17 days, the announcement made last night and shared with the families is the reality which we must now accept,” he said.

He said that when MAS receives approval from the investigating authorities, arrangements would be made to take the families to the recovery areas if they wished to do so and in the meantime they would continue to support the ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, he also expressed gratitude to the government and all those involved in this truly global search effort.

“This unprecedented event in aviation history has made the past 18 days the greatest challenge faced by our entire team at MAS. I have been humbled by the hard work, dedication, heartfelt messages of concern and offers of support from our remarkable team.

“We do not know why, and we do not know how this terrible tragedy happened.

But as the MAS family, we’re praying for the passengers and crew of Flight MH370,” he said.

After the 17th day of search and rescue, Najib announced yesterday that the flight path of MH370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

Najib made the announcement following a never before used analysis by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and Inmarsat, the UK company which provided the satellite data.

Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, went missing enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, about an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport on March 8.

It was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6.30 am, the same day. — Bernama