MH370: Families will never forget

She looks out for photos of her father at the exhibition.

The photo exhibition at Publika Shopping Gallery at Solaris Dutamas here pays tribute to MH370 and showcased photographs taken by local and international photographers who covered the MH370 tragedy ever since the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) aircraft went missing.

Maira Elizabeth smiles as soon as she spotted a photo of the flight's chief steward Andrew Nari, amongst the 239 passengers and crew of the fateful plane that went missing since March 8.

Her smile then turned into a frown as she is reminded that her father and the rest on the plane is still nowhere to be found.

With almost 121 days since the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370, she is still hoping for the return of her beloved dad.

Although she tries to put on a brave front, the 18-year-old Mass Comm student said moving on is not easy.

"We are trying to move on. At first we never thought it will be this long. It has now been four months and we are still not used to it yet," she told Astro AWANI after the launching of the 'MH370 Tribute Photo Exhibition' organised by the Foreign Correspondents Club of Malaysia.

The exhibition was launched by Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein here today.

"We tend to fall lately. We get our hopes up by prayers and try to stay positive but it gets harder. You try to go through the process. It's not easy at all. It's tough," she said.

Being the eldest daughter of Nari and Melanie Antonio, she also feels a sense of responsibility to stay strong and take care of her mother and younger brother, 14-year-old Malcolm.

When asked what keeps her going, Maira, who wishes to be a broadcaster one day, said her mother is her source of strength.

Jacquita Gomes, wife of MH370 inflight supervisor, Patrick Gomes said they still hope that the passengers and crew are still on land, which made their chances of coming back higher.

"We are just carrying on with life at the moment, we just don't want it (incident) to be quiet, people need to still remember that they are still out there. 239 of them and our spouses they are never forgotten. Everyday we think about them, everyday we talk about them," she said.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 with 239 people on board went missing an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport. It was supposed to have landed in Beijing at 6.30am on the same day.

Meanwhile, Maira picks up a little boy to look closer into the photographs at the exhibition.

Two-year-old Rafael points out at his grandfather, Gomes, who was in the same photograph with Maira's father.

It is understood that Maira and the rest of the family members of MH370 passengers and crew will never stop hoping until the missing plane is found.

"The most important thing, I hope they do not stop searching. I want them (authorities) to find where they are. Whether they are dead or alive, it does not matter, as long as they come back," she said.