BEIJING, March 31 — Malaysia is following standard procedures of international civil aviation pertaining to disclosure of information regarding the investigations on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, said Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Major General Datuk Affendi Buang.

He said this was governed by Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation aircraft accident and incident investigations.

Most airlines abided by the convention, he told a regular briefing attended by next-of-kin of Chinese passengers who were on the ill-fated flight here today.

The Chinese next-of-kin have been calling on the Malaysian government and the investigation authorities to disclose more information on the ongoing search for the missing aircraft to the public.

Keeping hopes alive, the families find it hard to accept that the aircraft ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean.

Meanwhile, a relative suggested that the Malaysian government offer rewards to those who provide clues on the whereabouts of the aircraft.

Another next-of-kin demanded a simultaneous meeting with experts involved in the investigations, saying the expert investigation team had agreed to meet relatives of Chinese passengers who were waiting for the outcome of the search operation in Kuala Lumpur and that this could be done via video conferencing.

Affendi told them that he would forward their requests to KL.

Also present was Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Commercial Director Dr Hugh Dunleavy.

Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers including 152 China nationals  and 12 crew, left the KL International Airport at 12.41am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30am on the same day.

A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then, after it was learned that the plane had veered off course, along two corridors — the northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Following an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data, United Kingdom satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded that Flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak then announced on March 24, seventeen days after the disappearance of Flight MH370 that it “ended in the southern Indian Ocean”. The search continues there. — Bernama