Since the Boeing 777
disappeared on March 8, the airline has been putting the relatives up in
hotels, where they've been briefed on the search. But the airline said
in a statement Thursday that it would close its family assistance
centers around the world by May 7, and that the families should receive
search updates from "the comfort of their own homes."
The
airline said that it would establish family support centers in Kuala
Lumpur and Beijing, and that it would keep in close touch with the
relatives through means including phone calls and meetings.
Malaysia Airlines also said it would soon make advanced compensation payments to the relatives.The plane vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and most of the 227 passengers were Chinese.
No
wreckage from the plane has been found, and an aerial search for
surface debris ended Monday after six weeks of fruitless hunting. An
unmanned sub is continuing to search underwater in an area of the
southern Indian Ocean where sounds consistent with a plane's black box
were detected in early April. Additional equipment is expected to be
brought in within the next few weeks to scour an expanded underwater
area.
The head of the search effort has predicted that the search could drag on for as long as a year. VIDEO
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