KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Even as authorities suspended yesterday search efforts for the still missing Flight MH370, the families of those on board are still pressing for answers to the fate of their loved ones in the three-year-old incident.

Many of the family members who spoke Malay Mail Online expressed misgivings on whether authorities had searched in the right location and whether the underwater search suspension yesterday would ultimately become a permanent halt.

Kelvin Shim, 42, whose stewardess wife Christine Tan was on board Flight MH370, sought a commitment from the search authorities that they will continue efforts to locate the plane, including going back to the drawing board.

"I think at least they could come out with a statement that they will proactively search for new leads or proactively reexamine, reanalyse the whole thing… instead of saying ‘now we suspend because we can't find it and wait for new info to emerge,’" he told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

"Now is it data being released by Inmarsat wrong or interpretation of the data is wrong or the equipment of the ship is not effective enough to find it? Because they said it was almost very certain they will locate it in the (search) area," he added, referring to the total size of the area in the southern Indian Ocean spanning 120,000 sq km that search authorities had fruitlessly scoured.

Shim said he now doubted the relevance of previous information and data on the past search efforts which had took years, citing the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s report released just last month that the aircraft could instead be possibly located in a 25,000 sq km area north of the current search zone.

"All this while I have been hopeful, I have been trusting whatever info given to us. But now (it) cannot be found and authorities just say suspended until new info, that is equivalent to it'll be suspended forever. What kind of new info will come out if there's no new analysis being done?” he said.

As for Shim and his two children who are 11 and 10 this year, he said: "What can we do in this two and a half years, we just cope as it is. We just accept whatever info we have and hopefully the aircraft is found and at least we can have some closure. But we don’t seem to have closure.”

Jacquita Gonzales, wife of Flight MH370 inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, said she could not consider the suspension of search efforts as closure for the kin as they still do not know what happened to the flight.

She also questioned why investigators were not considering information on other possible locations where MH370 might be found.

"It's funny when the search team has given them new areas, and these are the people that they are working with and now, it seems they don't trust their own findings.

"Why not go there and search the recommended 25,000 sq km first and give it a last try, one last time. If they can't find anything, then they can suspend," she said.

Selamat Omar, father of flight engineer Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, said he was upset that it has come to this with still no sign indicating Flight MH370's location, before going on to "beg" the Malaysian prime minister to help continue search efforts based on a report last month on the plane's possible location.

"I am truly hoping that with the goodwill of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, this search effort can continue at new areas as reported previously.

"I am hoping that if the wreckage is found, that will be one discovery that would help us get the closure we need," he told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

Lim Wee Hoon, whose brother-in-law Chan Huan Peen was on the flight that disappeared, was asked if the MH370 families should raise funds from the public for efforts to find new information that could be used for further search efforts.

"Not sure, for me as a family, I don't want to bother the public. I would think that this is responsibility of Malaysian Airlines, why should I bother the public? The Malaysia Airlines is responsible for it, it's their airline, it's their asset," she told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday.

Saying that MH370 family members are now "helpless”, Lim said the statement by three nations including Malaysia to suspend underwater search efforts was a "big disappointment” to her, noting that the uncertainty over the authorities’ plans or next steps could mean that eventually "this whole thing will be swept under the carpet forever”.

"So no point for them to search at wrong location but they shouldn't stop the search and do nothing about it, because families were given a promise from the beginning, especially from Malaysian government that they will not give up searching, This promise was given to us when we had our personal meeting with representatives from the government within a month after incident happened,” she said.

"They should continue to do that (search) and show progress instead of telling public and family ‘suspended’ until further notice. How long will that be and what is next? Are they telling me they are not going to do anything about it until someone gives them some clue or evidence for new location?” she said, later pointing out that no fresh search operations were launched in another area where some debris had been found.

Grace Subathirai Nathan, whose mother Anne Daisy was an MH370 passenger, expressed hope that the search will go on, saying: "We hope that they reconsider their decision. If not, we have to think of other ways to keep the search going."

Kong Chin Wah, whose wife's niece Ch'ng Mei Ling was on the plane, appeared sceptical of the past efforts by search authorities, claiming that they were "playing the fool" and questioning why they were not searching the waters off Africa where debris was found.

"They are wasting money also, what they are doing is wasting the money and manpower. They just simply go to sea and do searching for what?"

He indicated there was no need for search efforts to be continued as he had no confidence that the plane would be located, saying: "Yes, only people who do sabotage on the plane know where is the plane, on purpose they crash it, that's why you can't find it. If accidents happen, the plane you can find it very fast."

For Nur Laila Ngah, 43, wife of flight steward Wan Swaid Wan Ismail and mother of three children aged 11 to 15, it was difficult for her to express her feelings regarding the plane as she has been trying to be strong for her family for the past three years.

"Not only today, but past three years, the sadness is still there but we move on. No doubt they are doing the search, they are still doing it, I believe they are doing it in the proper way according to them and the best they can give to us, so what else I can say? They couldn't find," she told Malay Mail Online when contacted yesterday, adding that her heart was as torn as the debris found so far outside of the search area.

"For me, whether you find it or not is not the main point anymore. The thing is how I want to live my life, my parents, my children, I have three children almost grown up. I try my very best that I can do, the best for my family.

"We do move on, we don't stop at 8th of March. But living with this is not easy," she said, adding that life for her family was just not the same without her husband.

"It's just that we do miss him, we miss him so much," she said.

The Malaysian Airlines jet disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 passengers and crew.