On Madagascar beaches, families search for MH370 clues

It was a heartfelt journey before Christmas, a search for clues about loved ones who disappeared in a still unsolved mystery. The mission was a long shot, at best. But for several families seeking answers over the fate of relatives who perished aboard flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Mar 8, 2014, any effort is better than none. Frustrated by a lack of progress in official investigations into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, the families spent the past week in Madagascar, combing beaches. Fragments identified with "near certainty" as coming from the aircraft were discovered in recent months on the coast of East Africa, prompting the unorthodox search. Jiang Hui, a 44-year-old from China who lost his mother on the flight, has not given up hope of finding out why 239 people disappeared without a trace. "When I first found debris on Wednesday, I was very excited ... and very sad," he said, after a day that was both physically and emotionally gruelling. "Whenever we discover this kind of fragment, I think we are getting closer to the truth. This is what I want to hope for," he said, under a boiling hot sun. Neither the location nor the cause of the crash is known, feeding wild conspiracy theories. The families have covered parts of Madagascar on foot, by 4x4 vehicles and on quad bikes. And they have been accompanied by Blaine Gibson, an American amateur investigator who has also been trying to find out what happened to flight MH370. Over two days of searching, the team found debris on Nosy Boraha, an island off the eastern coast. After a discovery on the second day, a Malaysian woman who lost her husband onboard MH370, burst into tears. But such finds harden Hui's resolve. <br/>