MH370 families still waiting for answers five years on

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As a reporter who's covered the disappearance of Malaysia flight MH370 since the beginning, numerous moments from the past five years stick out in my mind.

Firstly, there was the shocking call from the assignment desk in Beijing that a plane en route from my base in Kuala Lumpur to the Chinese capital was missing.

Then in the first couple of days, those packed and ineptly handled press conferences fronted by Malaysian aviation officials before acting Minister of Transport Hishamuddin Hussein stepped in to add some gloss, if not substance, to proceedings.

A large piece of wreckage confirmed to be from the wing of MH370. /CGTN Photo

Other landmarks included Prime Minister Najib Razak's press conferences to announce that the plane had definitely gone down in the southern Indian Ocean and that human intervention, not a technical problem, was the cause.

Then came the finding of the first pieces of wreckage on islands in the Indian Ocean and the African coast, and later the confirmation that these were from MH370.

And then there were the search efforts. The months of painstaking mapping of the ocean floor, followed by many more futile months of scouring 120,000 square kilometers of ocean floor.

And each year, the gatherings of next of kin, to show solidarity with each other, and to keep the story alive in the minds of the media and, above all, the authorities.

Candles bore the names of all 239 people on board. /CGTN Photo

During last year's gathering, private firm Ocean Infinity was still searching on what's known as a "No Cure, No Fee" basis – that it would only be paid if it found the main body of the plane.

This year, as the families gathered on March 3, all searches have halted.

Several family members spoke at the fifth anniversary gathering in Kuala Lumpur.

Grace Nathan has been the driving force behind the MH370 family group. /CGTN Photo

"Our prayers remain unchanged. Find the plane, find the passengers, give us answers to what, why and how, and if it comes to it, who," said K.S. Narendran, whose wife was on board the flight.

Jacquita Gonzales' husband Patrick Gomez was the in-flight supervisor. "Have you moved on? That is the most famous question. Have you moved on? And I ask you, without answers how does anybody move on."

The driving force behind the group representing the family members of the passengers on flight MH370, and behind these annual events, is lawyer Grace Nathan, whose mother Anne Daisy was on board. "We are trying our best to keep MH370 alive in the minds of everybody here, and in the minds of everyone who flies," Nathan said.

Jacquita Gonzales' husband is the in-flight supervisor. /CGTN Photo

"The next of kin would like very much to see the Malaysian government take proactive action in setting aside funds to encourage more parties who are willing to search on a no cure, no fee basis to come forward to offer their services."

One company has already done that: Ocean Infinity, the private firm that concluded its search last year. By video message, their spokesman confirmed they are keen to resume the search on the same basis: that they are only paid if they find the plane.

Malaysia's transport minister Anthony Loke told those gathered his government "welcomes credible leads and also credible proposals to resume the search." The family members will be keeping him to that pledge.

MH370 next of kin have forged close bonds. /CGTN Photo

For the first time, the authorities allowed the public display of two pieces of confirmed wreckage from the plane.

As fascinating as it was to see these objects in person, it was sobering to think that five years on a handful of pieces of debris like these are still the only physical evidence of the plane's fate.

The debris has provided clues as to how the plane entered the water – in an uncontrolled descent – and may help narrow down where it now lies. But the wreckage does nothing to answer the most pressing questions of why the plane veered wildly off course and ended its flight thousands of miles from its intended destination, how it was possible, who was responsible.

Family members and their friends and supporters lit 239 candles, one for each of the passengers and crew on board. Their hope that one day the mystery will be resolved may flicker, but it shows no signs of being extinguished.