Victims' families dismiss MH370 report terming it 'useless'

Families and relatives of the passengers, who went missing on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, have rejected a report released on the first anniversary of the plane's disappearance, a report said.

The passengers' next of kin expressed their frustration with the report as they held remembrance ceremonies on Sunday, reported the BBC.

The report noted that the battery on the underwater locator beacon (ULB) of the flight data recorder had expired in December 2012 and had been out of action for more than a year, which limited investigators' chance of locating the aircraft.

It also pointed out that the plane was carrying about 221kg of lithium ion batteries that were not screened before being loaded onto the flight. They were although inspected physically by Malaysia Airlines' cargo officers but did not undergo security screening in Penang.

While a U.S. aviation safety expert described the lithium batteries as a threat to aviation but ruled out suggestions that it could have led to the Boeing 777 flight's disappearance.

The report however, offered no significant new information which might explain where the plane went or what happened to it.

It provided just a list of facts pertaining to the flight, including detailed information about the pilot and first officer, and a breakdown of the cargo being carried by the Boeing 777.

One of the relatives of the passenger onboard MH370 dismissed the 584-page report by terming it "useless."

Raymund Gagarin, whose cousin Anne Daisy was one of the passengers, said that he believed that the government was hiding information from the victims' families.

A woman in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, declared, "We don't accept the announcement from Malaysia on January 19 that said the event was an accident."

The Malaysian Airlines flight was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it disappeared.

No trace of the aircraft has been found till date, despite extensive air and underwater searches. Malaysia and Australia have said that they remain committed to finding the missing plane.