Ten years on, the families of Chinese passengers who vanished aboard a Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing continue their quest for answers.
On Friday, a gathering of relatives of the passengers convened with officials at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing as a part of their prolonged search for answers.
Their journey also took them to the Malaysian Embassy to submit their demands. Despite the passage of time, the hurt remains acute for many of these families.
This Friday marks the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of flight MH370. The Boeing 777, which was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 individuals onboard on March 8, 2014, abruptly changed course southward and disappeared from the radar. It never arrived in Beijing.
The aircraft's vanishing captured global attention and spurred myriad conspiracy theories. Only fragments of the plane have been discovered.
The majority of the aircraft's passengers, 154, were Chinese.
The families included elderly parents who had lost their grown-up children.
"Where did the plane go? Where is the person?" inquired Li Shuce, who lost his son on the flight. "If he's alive, I want to see him; if he's deceased, I want to see his body."
Li found himself encircled by police, who were managing the crowd outside the building where the families were meeting government officials. They kept journalists at bay behind a barrier constructed of ropes and a whiteboard.
Subsequently, the families proceeded to the Malaysian embassy in Beijing, where they chanted in front of the building, "Malaysia, return my loved one! Without seeing them, we won't give up."
Another woman, who only disclosed her surname, Gao, due to concerns over police harassment, believed her husband's death last year was hastened by the uncertainty surrounding their son's demise: He was on his return from a holiday in Malaysia with his wife and three-year-old daughter when the flight disappeared.
Gao and her husband were part of a generation restricted to a single child by China's one-child policy, which has since been relaxed.
"My sole request is just to know what happened to him. We need this," stated Gao, a resident of Beijing.
"I have no other demands." She expressed indifference towards potential compensation from the airline, which is currently under consideration in a Chinese court.
The families maintain hope for answers. Last week, Malaysian officials announced they might consider recommencing the search for the aircraft, following a proposal from a US company that had conducted an earlier search for another attempt.
Gao mentioned she has compelled herself to continue living for her family's sake.
"How could I give up? If I don't stand up, how can I face them? When confronted with such situations, you must take action for yourself; you need to be strong."
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