Amid the void
of information on their fates, it seems at times the passengers and crew of
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have been reduced to a number.
Two hundred and thirty-nine.
Yet, as their families and others
who love and miss them can attest through their anguish, they are so much more.
Hailing from at least a dozen nations, they represent a vast gamut of
humanity.
The youngest is 2, the oldest 76.
Five passengers haven't seen their fifth birthdays.
They are engineers, an artist and
a stunt man, along with Buddhist pilgrims, vacationers and commuters. To those
who wait for them, they are fathers, mothers, children, soulmates and the
dearest of friends.
The passengers of flight
370
The anguish of
waiting
Families wait for news on
Flight 370
Remembering the missing on
Flight 370
As could be said of any large,
random group, they are many things, individuals with 239 unique backgrounds,
idiosyncrasies and lives.
Here are a few of their
stories:
Ju Kun
Ju's social media account has
been flooded with well-wishers praying for his safe return. Many know the
35-year-old martial arts expert from his stand-ins as a stunt man in films like
"The Grandmaster" and "The Forbidden Kingdom." The latter starred genre
luminaries Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Ju was slated to begin filming on the Netflix
series, "Marco Polo" in coming weeks.
Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi wrote
on Weibo that Ju "is a sincere, kind and hardworking man," while Netflix said he
is "an integral part of our production team and a tremendous talent."
Chandrika
Sharma
K.S. Narendran considered going
to Kuala Lampur for more information on his wife, but ultimately he didn't see
the point. No information in Chennai, India, is the same as no information in
Kuala Lampur, so he'd prefer to be "surrounded by family and friends."
Sharma, the executive secretary
of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, was en route to
Mongolia for a U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization conference. Narendran
says he's received little information from authorities and, like most of the
world, has relied on news reports, which "thus far amounted to nothing," he
said.
Paul Weeks
Weeks left his wedding ring and
watch at home when he took a mining job in Mongolia. The New Zealander
instructed his wife, Danica, to pass them on to his two sons "should anything
happen."
Danica clutched
her husband's wedding ring and fought back tears as she explained to CNN
that her husband was aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, en route to Mongolia.
She describes him as "the most amazing husband and the most amazing father," who
always spends time with his boys. She says the hardest part is the cruel
mystery: not knowing what happened to the plane.
"He had strength, character.
He's just so much. He's my best friend and my soulmate, and I just can't wait
for him to come back. I hope. I hope."
Gu Naijun and Li
Yuan
Muktesh Mukherjee and Xiaomo Bai vacationed in Vietnam.
Gu, 31, uses her Weibo account
to keep her oft-traveling husband, Li, 32, apprised of the goings-on of their
two "princesses," whether the daughters are swimming, playing on the slide,
dressing in frilly costumes or just enjoying a lunch outing, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The Chinese couple fell in love
in Sydney, Australia, and moved to its suburbs. They had recently sold their
Sylvania home and were spending most of their time in China, the paper reported.
Li, who went by Carlos, is a partner with Beijing Landysoft Technology, where
one longtime employee said he and his coworkers were shocked. "He's a good boss,
kind, and extremely hard-working,'' the employee said.
Muktesh Mukherjee and
Xiaomo Bai
Mukherjee, 42, is vice president
of China operations for Xcoal Energy & Resources. He and his wife, Xiaomo
Bai, 37, who broadcaster CTV identified as Canadians who once lived in Montreal,
left their two young boys with Bai's mom in Beijing while they went on vacation
in Vietnam, according to Bai's Facebook page.
Matthew McConkey, a friend of
the couple's, said Mukherjee "was very much in love with" Bai, and "as parents
nothing was more important to them than those kids."
Mao Tugui
Hu Xianquan last spoke to her
husband, Mao, a painter, March 2, as he was boarding a plane to attend an
exhibition for his work. Like Danica Weeks, she finds the dearth of information
frustrating, and her grief has morphed to agonizing frustration.
Mohd Sofuan Ibrahim and
Ch'ng Mei Ling
Hasif Nazri, 33, was doubly sad
upon learning of the plane's disappearance. Not only did he live in the same
dorm as the 33-year-old Ibrahim during their school days in Malaysia, but Mei
Ling, also 33, is another former classmate.
While Nazri acknowledges losing
hope as the days drag on, he has fond memories of his old friends. Ibrahim, who
posted a Facebook photo before boarding Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, was
traveling to Beijing to begin work for Malaysia's Ministry of International
Trade and Industry. A good student and speaker, Ibrahim is also "a good,
kind-hearted friend, very helpful, cheerful and definitely no wallflower," Nazri
said.
Huang Yi, and her daughter, Yuanyuan, 5.
Nazri remembers Mei Ling,
meanwhile, as a funny woman with an infectious laugh. She's a "very cheerful
girl." Mei Ling works for Flexsys America LP, an Ohio-based manufacturer of
chemicals for the rubber industry, and has lived in Pennsylvania since 2010. She
"was very adaptable," Nazri recalled from his days doing course work with her.
Huang Yi
Huang Lu, an elementary school
teacher in China's Guizhou province, hopes for "miracle" news of her friend,
Huang Yi, 30, who works for the Texas-based technology firm Freescale
Semiconductor, and was aboard the flight with 19 colleagues when the plane
disappeared.
Huang Lu and Huang Yi have been
friends since they were teens and have kept in touch online. Huang Lu often
spoke to her friend's daughter, Yuanyuan, 5, about family and raising kids.
"She's kind, lively and a good person to talk with," Huang Lu said of her pal.
"Yi, please come back. Yuanyuan needs you."
Swawand
Kolekar
In Mumbai, India, Archit Joshi,
23, desperately sought information on his classmate, Kolekar, whose family in
Beijing was also desperate for any information on his whereabouts.
Joshi described Kolekar as "very
reserved but very, very intelligent ... a bit of a techno-freak and he made a
lot of circuits and projects at engineering college."
Philip Wood is an IBM executive.
"He didn't have many friends --
he was a bit of a loner -- but he had all the attributes a good friend should
have."
Li Yan
Li's aunt, Zhang Guizhi,
traveled from central China to Beijing and was hoping to obtain a passport to
travel to wherever the plane is found. She wasn't sure how to go about the
process and began weeping when she explained Li, 31, had traveled with her
husband and four friends to Malaysia for vacation.
Philip Wood
The 51-year-old father of two
graduated from Oklahoma Christian University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science
in math and computer science, said school spokeswoman Risa Forrester. On the school's
Facebook page, a man wrote that Wood,
an IBM executive, is "gentle, kind, had great taste in music and was a wonderful
artist."
"His word was gold," his family
said in a statement. "Incredibly generous, creative and intelligent, Phil cared
about people, his family, and above all, Christ."
Mary and Rodney
Burrows
Neighbors Mandy Watt and Don
Stoke say the Burrowses are the hard-working parents of three "successful,
all happy" adult children -- two daughters and a son. Rodney Burrows had planned
his trip to China after being laid off last year, the Australian Associated
Press reported.
Watt further said of the Middle
Park, Australia, couple, "I hate to use the cliche, but they were
soulmates."
Catherine and Robert
Lawton
The Lawtons, a Springfield
Lakes, Australia, couple, in their mid-50s, are passionate travelers, parents to three daughters and doting
grandparents, according to the Australian Associated Press.
Robert's brother, David,
described him as a "very good father, such a good person." Robert's
sister-in-law said the Lawtons had planned their trip with their good friends,
the Burrowses. Cathy's last Facebook post before leaving was, "Off to
China."
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