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| Photo by reuters |
BEIJING: Screams and cries of anguish from the next-of-kin of passengers of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370reveberated at the Lido hotel here, right after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced Monday night that the aircraft ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
A few of the family members were so shattered by the news that they had to be carried away on stretchers by first-aid personnel.
A scuffle broke out when some grieving relatives tried to prevent reporters from taking pictures, prompting chaotic scenes.
"Stop taking pictures! Stop doing it now!," a man shouted at a group of reporters and even tried to knock them down.
While security guards restrained the man, some relatives of the MH370passengers chased away the media personnel.
Earlier, about a hundred media personnel waited at the hotel about 10pm for Najib's announcement.
It is learnt the families were given a briefing by MAS officials before the prime minister's announcement.
Najib on Monday night announced that data released by the British's Inmarsat satellite concluded that the missing Boeing 777-200ER ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
"With deep sadness and regret...that according to this new data, Flight MH370ended in the southern Indian Ocean," he said.
On March 8, the Beijing-bound airliner which carried a total of 239 passengers and crew disappeared from the radar, about an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport at 12.41am.
It was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day. BERNAMA