Families of missing Flight 370 press for search to continue

In this Thursday March 13, 2014 photo, university students hold a candlelight vigil for passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in Yangzhou, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. China on Friday urged Malaysia’s government to release any information it has regarding the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner to help narrow the search area. AP

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The families of those who were aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have appealed to authorities to continue searching for the plane, which vanished two years ago with 239 people on board.

At a commemorative event Sunday in Kuala Lumpur to mark the second anniversary of the jet’s March 8, 2014, disappearance, they released white balloons tagged with the names of everyone aboard the plane and the words: “MH370: Always remembered in our hearts.”

Jacquita Gomes, who lost her husband, inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, said the families are fighting for the search to continue “because our loved ones are not home yet, so how can we say it’s the end?”

A search in the southern Indian Ocean has found no trace of the plane and is expected to end by June.