Next-of-kin of the crew members on board the missing MH370 claim the national airline has “abandoned” them after discovering they have engaged a foreign law firm for legal assistance.
Jacquita Gonzales, the widow of Patrick Gomez who was the in-flight supervisor of the flight, said MAS stopped the caregiver services one-and-a-half weeks ago after realising that some of them have engaged US-based Ribbeck Law Chartered.
According to Gonzales (right in photo) the caregivers were their “lifeline” to provide any assistance to the crew members’ next-of-kin in regards to finances, flight transportation and to update them about the latest news of the search operations in the south Indian Ocean.
“From day one they said that ‘we are all family. Anything you want, just come to us, we will help you’. That’s why the caregivers were assigned to us.
“But to take away our caregivers, our lifeline to MAS just like that... It’s actually not right because our caregivers are not there to advice on legal matters.
“They are there to help us on any other things that we need to take care of,” she said at a press conference today along with five other family members of the missing crew.
There were 227 passengers, mostly Chinese citizens, and 12 Malaysian crew members on board when the flight went missing on March 8.
Analysis on radar signals concluded that the flight had ended at the southern Indian Ocean and the search operation are still being conducted off Perth, Australia.
MAS reportedly closed all its family assistance centres and accommodation facilities in Beijing earlier this month.
'Lawfirm engaged to understand documents'
Shedding tears this afternoon, Gonzales said that the next-of-kin had engaged the legal firm since early April but only found out that that the caregiver services were halted when they called their respective caregivers on May 8.
Instead, they were told to engage MAS’ lawyer through their lawyers on anything related to MH370.
They received an official email regarding the termination of the caregiver services last Friday.
“So it’s like we are abandoned. It’s rather sad because our spouses were the crew of the MH370 and MAS is the employer. Isn’t it supposed to look after their employee?.
“As far as I am concern, my husband is still an employee of MAS. As far as I am concern, my husband is still on MH370, a flight to Beijing and he has not come back from Beijing yet. He is still on the very long flight
“Now sometimes, I’m thinking, maybe I just have to fly to Perth to get some results on what the search is all about because we don’t know anything already...,” she said in tears.
The 51-year-old said that they will instruct their lawyers seek further information on the matter from MAS.
When contacted, a spokesperson for the airline said a response will be issued tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Gonzales also clarified that they had sought legal advice to understand the content of documents they were asked to sign.
“I would look at the letter that is given to me to sign, I would take a snapshot of it and send it to a friend who is a lawyer and ask him, ‘Can I sign this? Will I get into trouble?' I am not going to do that all the time," she said.
Kelvin Shim, whose wife was a flight attendant on board, said that at least seven next-of-kin of the crew members had engage legal advice.
He added that they were kept in dark over any information about the missing plane after the services ended.
As such, he suspected that this was the attempt by MAS to delay the issuance of advance compensation.
Another flight attendant's spouse Elaine Chew said that MAS was supposed to provide counselling services to her 5-year-old child.
However, she said that the service is still pending because of this issue.
Jacquita Gonzales, the widow of Patrick Gomez who was the in-flight supervisor of the flight, said MAS stopped the caregiver services one-and-a-half weeks ago after realising that some of them have engaged US-based Ribbeck Law Chartered.
According to Gonzales (right in photo) the caregivers were their “lifeline” to provide any assistance to the crew members’ next-of-kin in regards to finances, flight transportation and to update them about the latest news of the search operations in the south Indian Ocean.“From day one they said that ‘we are all family. Anything you want, just come to us, we will help you’. That’s why the caregivers were assigned to us.
“But to take away our caregivers, our lifeline to MAS just like that... It’s actually not right because our caregivers are not there to advice on legal matters.
“They are there to help us on any other things that we need to take care of,” she said at a press conference today along with five other family members of the missing crew.
There were 227 passengers, mostly Chinese citizens, and 12 Malaysian crew members on board when the flight went missing on March 8.
Analysis on radar signals concluded that the flight had ended at the southern Indian Ocean and the search operation are still being conducted off Perth, Australia.
MAS reportedly closed all its family assistance centres and accommodation facilities in Beijing earlier this month.
'Lawfirm engaged to understand documents'
Shedding tears this afternoon, Gonzales said that the next-of-kin had engaged the legal firm since early April but only found out that that the caregiver services were halted when they called their respective caregivers on May 8.
Instead, they were told to engage MAS’ lawyer through their lawyers on anything related to MH370.
They received an official email regarding the termination of the caregiver services last Friday.“So it’s like we are abandoned. It’s rather sad because our spouses were the crew of the MH370 and MAS is the employer. Isn’t it supposed to look after their employee?.
“As far as I am concern, my husband is still an employee of MAS. As far as I am concern, my husband is still on MH370, a flight to Beijing and he has not come back from Beijing yet. He is still on the very long flight
“Now sometimes, I’m thinking, maybe I just have to fly to Perth to get some results on what the search is all about because we don’t know anything already...,” she said in tears.
The 51-year-old said that they will instruct their lawyers seek further information on the matter from MAS.
When contacted, a spokesperson for the airline said a response will be issued tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Gonzales also clarified that they had sought legal advice to understand the content of documents they were asked to sign.
“I would look at the letter that is given to me to sign, I would take a snapshot of it and send it to a friend who is a lawyer and ask him, ‘Can I sign this? Will I get into trouble?' I am not going to do that all the time," she said.
Kelvin Shim, whose wife was a flight attendant on board, said that at least seven next-of-kin of the crew members had engage legal advice.
He added that they were kept in dark over any information about the missing plane after the services ended.
As such, he suspected that this was the attempt by MAS to delay the issuance of advance compensation.
Another flight attendant's spouse Elaine Chew said that MAS was supposed to provide counselling services to her 5-year-old child.
However, she said that the service is still pending because of this issue.
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