I may never know' Mystery of missing airliner remains unsolved 10 years on

Shortly after midnight on 8 March 2014, a Boeing 777 heaved into the air from Kuala Lumpur and climbed steadily to its assigned cruising altitude of 10,700 metres. After being instructed to switch frequencies to Vietnamese air traffic control, the pilot replied in the polite but methodical manner that is common in radio calls: "Good night, Malaysian three seven zero." It was the last message that would ever be received from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

- Oliver Holmes Haylena Krishnamoorthy 

A decade has passed since the plane veered wildly off course during a routine flight to Beijing and disappeared but, despite one of the largest and most expensive multinational searches in history, one of aviation's greatest mysteries remains unsolved.

For KS Narendran, from India, whose wife, Chandrika, was among the 239 people on board the flight that never reached its destination, that is impossible to accept.

"I worry that by not knowing what happened to the flight, we are collectively vulnerable to a recurrence." It is a question that haunts all who fear flying, and many of those who don't. How can a sophisticated Boeing 777 - one equipped with instruments for an era of global satellite tracking and constant communication - simply vanish? "Every succeeding anniversary has been less about my personal loss and more about not yet having answers to what really happened to the flight," says KS Narendran.

"Knowing where the flight ended and what led it to its resting place, in whatever form or shape, remains important. It is the question I come back to once in a while with a sense of agitation, even frustration. I may never know in my lifetime." The need for answers also burns inside the families of those who were operating the doomed flight, as accusations and conspiracy theories swirl.

Dr Ghouse Mohd Noor, a friend of the flight's captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, says: "Capt Zaharie's family is still strongly hoping for answers. There is still no closure on it. There must be an explanation of what happened." Fuad Sharuji, who worked as the crisis director for Malaysia Airlines when MH370 was lost, says Zaharie's family struggle to cope with the conspiracy theories surrounding the pilot.

"They have been shutting themselves away from media as they cannot accept the accusations."