KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 — Frenchman Ghyslain Wattrelos, whose wife and two children were aboard Flight MH370, has turned to a private investigator to dig further into the conspiracy theories surrounding the missing jetliner, a UK paper reported.

The father of three who recently gave his first interview in the UK said he does not believe the Malaysia Airlines plane is resting somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean as the authorities leading the search have said, The Telegraph reported yesterday.

“If the plane was there, we would have found some debris already.

“I have no proof at all that there was a crash, so there’s still some hope,” he was quoted saying.

According to the published interview, Wattrelos was to fly from France and meet up with his 51-year-old wife Laurence,  son Adrien, 17, and daughter Ambre, 13, in Beijing on March 8 last year.

Wattrelos reportedly said he was approached last year by an individual who claimed to have connections to intelligence agents and offered to help uncover the truth surrounding MH370.

“I do believe with such a guy I can find more things.

“He’s very connected to, whatever, secret services, he has a lot of connections,” the Frenchman was quoted saying.

The Telegraph reported Wattrelos saying he and four other friends and family of MH370’s passengers initiating a crowdfunded their own investigation into the plane as they do not believe the official version that their loved ones have perished in what the Malaysian government has dubbed an accident.

“I still have one kid. And it helps me, because I wake up every morning first for him. I will find it. I will spend whatever time and money that’s needed to find it,” the father was quoted saying.

A massive underwater hunt for the Boeing 777 plane, led by Australia, has chalked up A$60 million (RM181.1 million) to date with only 40 per cent of the suspected search area measuring 60,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean covered.

While Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai is confident the plane will be found by May, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said that the search cannot keep the same intense pace forever.

Putrajaya is expected to release an interim report on the multi-nation hunt for the missing plane today.