GEORGE TOWN, Jan 29 — “Its been almost a year since I am compelled to lie to my grand children that their mother is working in a faraway place whenever they ask about her,” said the mother of a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 passenger.

The mother of Guan Hua Jin, 34, who wanted only to be known as Moey in her 60s, is at her wits’ end as to how to tell her grandchildren, aged three and five years, that their mother will not return home indefinitely, especially with Chinese New Year just around the corner.

She said her son-in-law, who now resides in Kuala Lumpur with her two grandchildren, had let her inform them of the sad news that the aircraft carrying Hua Jin was lost.

“I am forced to lie about their mother’s whereabouts to my grandchildren, who always ask about her and with the Chinese New Year coming soon, I really do not know what to tell them anymore,” she told reporters when met outside her residence in Bayan Baru here today.

Hua Jin, who was also a computer engineer, departed for Beijing aboard  Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on March 8 last year to participate in a three-week course arranged by her company.

The Boeing 777 aircraft which was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers disappeared from radar screens while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, about an hour after departing from the KL International Airport at 12.41am on March 8, 2014. It was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day.

The aircraft was officially declared an accident under international aviation rules, and that all 239 passengers and crew aboard are presumed to have lost their lives.

Moey said she missed her youngest child very much and could only prayed everyday hoping she would come back to her family.

“This has happened for quite some time. I can only pray and the rest I leave it to God,” she said while shedding tears.

She also expressed her sympathy to other families of Flight MH370 passengers and crew and hoped they would all stayed strong in facing this situation. — Bernama