MH370: "My heart is broken" says mother of passenger

Liu Guiqui, whose cries of despair captured the agony of the families waiting for news of the 239 passengers and crew on board the missing aircraft, said the scuffle seen last week was the result of confusion during a chaotic moment at the press conference.

“I was surrounded by reporters. There was a young policeman whom I initially thought was about to grab me. I said ‘What are you doing? Help!’”, she told Chinese television.

“Then, they put me aside and there was someone from Malaysia Airlines who can speak Chinese telling me to take it easy and reassuring me that they were trying to protect me,” she added.

Liu Guiqiu was seen being dragged away by police on Wednesday at the Everly Hotel where the daily press briefing on the missing plane has been held since it disappeared on March 8.

It has now been shifted to the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur which offers a bigger space to accommodate journalists from local and international media agencies.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein had ordered an inquiry into the chaos.

“We regret the incident during the press conference which involved several families of the passengers onboard MH370.

“We can only imagine the suffering that they are going through. Malaysia is doing everything in their power to locate the MH370 and hope to provide some answer to these families,” said Hishammuddin.

He also urged for all quarters to understand that Malaysia is doing its best in finding the missing plane.

On March 18, desperate relatives of Chinese passengers on board flight MH370 threatened to go on a hunger strike as they demanded answers about the missing aircraft.

"Now we have no news, and everyone is understandably worried. The relatives say they will go to the (Malaysian) embassy to find the ambassador," said Wen Wancheng, whose son was aboard the missing flight.

"Relatives are very unsatisfied. So you hear them saying 'hunger strike'," added the 63-year-old from the eastern province of Shandong, speaking as the search entered its 11th day.

Two-thirds of the passengers on the flight, which had 239 people on board, were Chinese.

More than two weeks after her son failed to make it to Beijing, Liu Guiqiu said she and her family have not yet told her granddaughter about the disappearance of Li Le, the girl’s father.

"She wouldn't be able to cope with this news about her father. I really just want my son to come home and to be safe. My heart is broken. My son is definitely going to be all right," said Liu Guiqui.

The interview, aired by the state-owned China Central Television, emerged as the multinational search for the aircraft was given a fresh lead following a third sighting of apparent debris.

A French satellite detected "potential objects" in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean, north of two earlier sightings.

An initial sighting by a US satellite just over a week ago was of two floating objects, 24 metres long, in deep waters about 2500km south-west of Perth. A second sighting, by a Chinese satellite, found an object 22 metres long.

The French authorities did not give details but an official said the new French data consisted of radar echoes captured on Friday, and converted into fuzzy images. The objects were more than 900 kilometres north of the area where those discovered by Australia and China were located, suggesting they may be unconnected.