CHRISTIAN NEWS FROM RAY
A free service of Jesus Christ is Lord Ministries
News selected and edited by Ray Mossholder
EARLY MORNING EDITION
THE TWO MAJOR STORIES AT THIS HOUR IN DEPTH –
CRIMEA AND THE MISSING MALAYSIAN AIRLINER
March 16, 2014
THE RUSSIAN BEAR GROWLS AND BEGINS TO BITE
Several Russian military helicopters landed on today in southern Kherson Oblast near Kremlin-occupied Crimea, bringing dozens of commandos and seizing a natural gas plant. The plant is key to neighboring Crimea, because it gets electricity, freshwater and natural gas from there. The Russians said they were in Kherson to prevent a possible terrorist attack on oil assets in the area, according to the Ukrainian border guards. The moves heightened tension on the eve of a Crimean referendum, which Ukraine and the West consider illegal.
Four helicopters landed near Strilkove village on the north of Arabat Spit, a narrow piece of land on the south of Kherson region, bringing 60 commandos. “The border guards together with soldiers (about 20 people) had to move back from the crossroad leading to Henichesk (city nearby) and had to take up defense,” it said in the report.
At about 3:30 p.m., six more helicopters landed there, bringing 60 more commandos. Several military vehicles were riding along the Arabat Spit at the same time.
While the border guards said there were no clashes, the Ministry of Defense said in its report that the Ukrainian army reacted, bringing forces of army aviation and an airmobile battalion, forcing the invaders to leave the territory.
But based on the information of well-informed army expert Dmytro Tymchuk, head of the Center of Military and Political Researches, the Russians are still there. “At the moment our commandos are approaching the spot,” Tymchuk wrote on his Facebook page. “But there is the fact that (gas production) station for unknown reason wasn’t guarded.”
This incident sparked an angry reaction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called on Russia to immediately leave the occupied territory of Kherson Oblast.
“Ukraine Foreign Ministry declares the military invasion by Russia and demands the Russian side to immediately withdraw its military forces from the territory of Ukraine,” the Ministry said in a statement. “Ukraine reserves the right to use all necessary measures to stop the military invasion by Russia,” it added.
CNN team in Crimea: This is a moment to remember: Ukraine’s foreign ministry has termed the Russian move a “military invasion” and called on Russia to withdraw its forces.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at grytsenko@kyivpost.com.
AT THE UNITED NATIONS
Today Russia wielded it’s veto power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council against a U.S. draft resolution that declared Sunday’s Crimea referendum invalid. Thirteen of the 15 Security Council members backed the resolution, while China abstained.
“The reason only one country voted ‘no’ today is that the world believes that international borders are more than mere suggestions,” said U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power after the vote. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin countered that Crimean citizens had a right to self-determination.
Is Russia preparing to invade Ukraine?
What happens next in Crimea?
Blue white and red Russian flags dominate the streets of the coastal Crimean town of Sevastopol, where concerts on the main square have been celebrating the return to the “motherland” this past week.
“Everybody believes the results are already rigged,” said CNN Reporter Maia Mikhaluk from Kiev. “People are concerned about what is going to happen after the referendum,” she said. “People are concerned that the Russian army will use their guns to push (the) Ukrainian army from Crimea.”
As mentioned in an earlier CNFR report, the referendum will present Crimean residents with the choice of whether to secede from Ukraine and join Russia or effectively become independent. There are no other options.
Ukraine’s acting foreign minister, Andrii Deshchytsia, repeated Saturday the interim government’s position that the referendum is illegitimate and will not be recognized by Kiev or the international community. Ukraine is engaged in a “diplomatic war” with Russia, he said, but is looking for a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Crimea. It will not respond to Russian “provocations,” he said.
Russia — which the West and Ukraine insist has the majority ethnic Russian Crimean peninsula under its effective military control — has come under concerted international pressure to halt its activities there and talk to the interim government in Kiev. But, so far, it has refused to budge.
Moscow has repeatedly denied direct involvement in Crimea, saying that the well-armed men in uniforms without identifying insignia are not Russian troops. Putin insists all that is happening is an internal matter inside Crimea itself.
In the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk, thousands of pro-Russia demonstrators rallied beneath a towering statue of Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in the city’s main square. They waved Russian flags and red flags emblazoned with the iconic image of Argentinian Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara. There was not a single Ukraine flag to be seen, according to a CNN team on the ground. “They are frightened,” said local journalist Denis Kazansky of pro-Ukraine protesters. “They will not come out and demonstrate.”
A man was fatally stabbed and at least 10 others were injured in clashes in Donetsk on Thursday. Russia blamed “right-wing radical groups” for the violence, while Ukrainian authorities suggested it was linked to Russian citizens who want to escalate tensions in Ukraine. Many people living in Ukraine’s eastern region, along the Ukraine-Russia border, identify more with Russia than with Ukraine.
IN MOSCOW
Russia first reported that 3,000 protesters marched in Moscow today, but CNN says it was 50,000 who marched in protest to their countries invasion of Crimea and the referendum voters there will vote upon today. Meanwhile, 15,000 marchers marched in favor of what Vladimir Putin is doing.
It isn’t surprising that Russian support for reclaiming Crimea majority has intensified in Russia amid weeks of relentless state television coverage of purported aggression toward ethnic Russians by the new Kiev government, which came to power after Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country in February. But given the fact that even near 50,000 protesters dared to March in front of the Kremlin shows how divided Russia really is. The Russians know they can hear the war drums beating.
“I love Ukraine — it’s Putin who needs war and an empire, not me,” said Dmitry Maksimov, a 29-year-old lawyer who held a bouquet of flowers dyed blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the punk rock protest group Pussy Riot, called for defiance against the authorities. “Don’t believe it when they say that we are few, that we are weak. Together we will change this country,” she said in a speech Saturday from a stage.
None of Russia’s state-owned news channels showed footage from the anti-government protest, and instead showed live video only of Putin’s adoring crowd.
The Black Sea peninsula was part of Russia until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954. Ukraine was then part of the Soviet Union. But Russia has a major naval base in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, and thousands of its troops are stationed there.
Despite U.S. warnings of “costs” for Russia if the vote goes ahead, Moscow has refused to budge on the crisis. Lengthy talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in London on Friday resulted in little more than an acknowledgment of the huge gap between them.
As Lavrov said, “We don’t have a common vision.”
Already,eight Ukrainian military units in Crimea have been taken over, 22 others are blocked, and 49 of 56 border patrol stations are now in either Russian or pro-Russian hands, Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.
Kiev’s new Western-leaning government, which came to power following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych, has insisted that Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including Crimea, must be respected.
Moscow has insisted it has the right to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine, who it claims are threatened by radical nationalists and “fascists.”
ESTONIA PREDICTS WAR
Estonia’s defense minister, Urmas Reinsalu, said Friday that Ukraine is on the verge of a full-scale military conflict unless Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hand is forced. “It is clear that we are at a crossroads,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “If positions continue to harden and rhetoric continues to sharpen, there is great risk of a dangerous downward spiral.”
European nations and the United States have announced some of the targeted punishments against Russia that will take place if Russia continues its present course. In addition it is offering billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine’s fledgling government. Secretary of State Kerry warned Friday that the “consequences” will be far more stringent should Putin sign off on the “back-door annexation” of Crimea. But lawmakers in Moscow are due to vote next Friday on accepting Crimea into the Russian Federation should there be a “yes” vote in the referendum. At the same time, Kerry opened the door for less strident measures should Russia opt not to take in Crimea — whatever the referendum says — and instead go along with greater consensus of nations.
In spite of Putin’s strong support from the Russian people, Russia has seen steep declines in its stock market and the value of the ruble in recent days. The State Department has cautioned Americans about traveling to Russia given “the possibility of violence or anti-U.S. actions directed against U.S. citizens or U.S. interests.”
SEVERAL US SENATORS ARE IN KIEV
Speaking in Kiev, Senator John McCain called today for the United States to provide long-term military assistance to Ukraine, saying it is “the right and decent thing to do.” McCain was part of a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators who traveled to Kiev ahead of Sunday’s secession referendum in Crimea. The White House and U.S. allies in Europe have denounced the referendum as unconstitutional and illegal because Russian troops have essentially taken over the southern Ukraine peninsula. “Ukraine has been invaded,” McCain continued. “Free peoples and patriots wish to defend themselves and their homes from aggression. I believe we should provide it.”
McCain also had strong words for President Barack Obama in an op-ed appearing in The New York Times. He called for the President to take actions to restore the United States’ credibility and strength around the world.
“Crimea has exposed the disturbing lack of realism that has characterized our foreign policy under President Obama. It is this worldview, or lack of one, that must change,” wrote McCain. He continued, “Obama’s administration supports the perception that the U.S. can “pull back from the world at little cost to our interests and values. This has fed a perception that the United States is weak, and to people like Mr. (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, weakness is provocative.” For McCain, this is embodied by a scaled-back missile defense program and defense budgets illustrating “hope, not strategy.”
In his op-ed, McCain wrote that Iran and China have “bullied” America’s allies and paid no price, and Bashar al-Assad crossed President Obama’s “red line” by using chemical weapons in Syria and remains in power.
McCain portrayed Putin as determined to bring Russia’s neighbors “back under Moscow’s dominion by any means necessary.” Putin’s aggression in Crimea, McCain argued, is a symptom of “growing disregard for America’s credibility in the world. Crimea must be the place where President Obama recognizes this reality and begins to restore the credibility of the United States as a world leader.”
In a press conference in Kiev, McCain and seven other senators, John Barasso (R-Wyo.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), said Congress stood with the people of Ukraine. They called for strict sanctions against Russia.
However, McCain went further than his colleagues. “Ukraine is going to need a long-term military assistance program from the U.S. – equipment both lethal and nonlethal,” said McCain. “They ask for some modest means that can help them resist. I believe we should provide it,” McCain said.
McCain’s comments followed a report Thursday from the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. balked at a Ukrainian request for military aid, and was wary of heightening tensions with Russia.
When reached for comment by CNN, a senior administration official at the White House would only confirm that a number of requests from Ukraine are on the table.
McCain’s trip to Ukraine followed his efforts over the past week to pass legislation in the Senate. The Senate package includes $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, as well as $50 million to boost democracy building in Ukraine and $100 million for enhanced security cooperation for Ukraine and some of its neighbors. It also includes proposed sanctions against individual Ukrainians and Russians responsible for the violence against anti-government protesters and those who have undermined the stability and sovereignty of Ukraine.
However, the measure has stalled in the Senate as it also includes approval of long-delayed reforms at the International Monetary Fund that are opposed by many Republicans. McCain said on the Senate floor Thursday he was “embarrassed” that fellow Republicans were putting disputes over the IMF and campaign finance reform ahead of the Ukrainians.
But in Kiev on Saturday, McCain sounded more optimistic. He said that Congress and Obama would work together on supporting Ukraine. “This is too serious for partisanship,” McCain said.
Senator Murphy, a supporter of McCain’s measure, also spoke of the Senate taking an active role as events unfold in Crimea. “The world is watching, and the message that we bring today both to Ukraine and to Russia is that the United States Senate is watching as well.”
Indiana Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, said Americans are among the “millions across the world” who support Ukraine in its effort to hold a vote to achieve a government of the people.
“Say no to war” and “Putin, go away” shouted Ukrainian protestors who are furious with President Vladimir Putin’s actions. It was the largest anti-government demonstration since 2012 and it took very close to the place where a rally of several thousand who support Russia’s intervention in Crimea.
The vote is scheduled to take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Washington time. Officials will have 10 days to count the votes. However, such votes are usually counted within 24 hours.
As we have made clear … we see Cold War dichotomy,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said Saturday. “The United States will stand with all of our partners young democracies.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
“FLYING SAUCERS CAPTURED THAT PLANE!”
“NO. THEY WERE THE FIRST ONES UP IN THE RAPTURE!”
From the bazaar to the ridiculous, everything from conspiracy theories to the wildest thoughts of imaginations gone wild, total mystery continues to surround a Malaysian airliner that has been missing for more than a week. U.S. intelligence officials are leaning toward the theory that “those in the cockpit” — the pilots of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 — were deliberately responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the commercial jetliner, a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the latest thinking told CNN on Saturday. However, background checks on the home life and habits of these two men seem to make such a claim unreasonable.
Malaysian authorities searched the home of the lead pilot, a move that came the same day that Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters the plane veered off course due to apparent deliberate action taken by somebody, or more than one somebody, on board.
The Malaysian government had been looking for a reason to search the home of the pilot and the co-pilot for several days. But it was only in the last 24 to 36 hours, when radar and satellite data came to light, that authorities believed they had sufficient reason to go through the residences, according to a U.S. official.
“The Malaysians don’t do this lightly,” the official said. It’s not clear whether the Malaysian government believes one or both the men could have been responsible for whatever happened to the plane when the Boeing 777-200 ER disappeared March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
A source close to the investigation told CNN that Malaysian police had searched the home of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53. Shah lives in an upscale gated community in Shah Alam, outside Malaysia’s capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Two vans were loaded with small bags, similar to shopping bags, at the home of the co-pilot, 27-year-old Farq Ab Hamid. It was unclear whether the bags were taken from the home, and police made no comment about their activities at the residence.
Najib made clear in a press conference that in light of the latest developments, authorities have refocused their investigation into the crew and passengers on board.
A senior U.S. law enforcement official told CNN that investigators are carefully reviewing the information so far collected on the pilots to determine whether there is something to indicate a motivation or indication of what may have happened. “So far, both the pilot and copilot looked like they loved life and would
Preliminary U.S. intelligence reports show the jetliner was in some form of controlled flight at a relatively stable altitude and path when it changed course and flew toward the Indian Ocean. It is presumed by U.S. officials to have crashed, perhaps after running out of fuel.
Military radar showed the jetliner flew in a westerly direction back over the Malaysian peninsula, Najib said. It is then believed to have either turned northwest toward the Bay of Bengal or southwest elsewhere into the Indian Ocean, he said.
“Evidence is consistent with someone acting deliberately from inside the plane,” Malaysia’s Prime Minister said, officially confirming the plane’s disappearance was not caused by an accident. “….Despite media reports that the plane was hijacked, we are investigating all major possibilities on what caused MH370 to deviate.”
The focus now is searching for the missing flight in the southern Indian Ocean, according to the U.S. official with knowledge of the latest intelligence thinking.
“The southern scenario seems more plausible,” the official said.
Meanwhile, according to Najib, new satellite information leads authorities to be fairly certain that someone disabled the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, or ACARS, just before the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. “Shortly afterward, near the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control,” Najib said, “the aircraft’s transponder was switched off.”
ACARS is the system that routinely transmits information like turbulence and fuel load back to the airline. A transponder is a system controlled from the cockpit that transmits data about the plane via radio signals to air traffic controllers. It combines with ground radar to provide air traffic controllers with details about the plane, including its identification, speed, position and altitude.
The last voice communication from the cockpit a week ago were these words: “All right, good night.” They were uttered at the Vietnam air traffic control border at about the same time the transponder was shut off, Najib said. That suggests the incident on the plane began sooner than initially thought.
But some have questioned the Prime Minister’s account, given the dearth of information available. In the days since the flight disappeared, the Malaysian government has been under intense scrutiny for its handling of the investigation. The government has been criticized by some U.S. officials for not sharing information or accepting more offers of help.
Shortly after Najib delivered his remarks, China demanded Malaysia provide more information on the investigation. Of the 239 people aboard Flight 370, 154 were Chinese. “Today is the 8th day of the missing MH370, and the plane is still yet to be found,” said a statement from the foreign ministry. “Time is life.” The criticism was more pointed in an editorial published by China’s state-run news agency Xinhua. “And due to the absence — or at least lack — of timely authoritative information, massive efforts have been squandered, and numerous rumors have been spawned, repeatedly racking the nerves of the awaiting families,” the editorial said.
Malaysian authorities have been highly sensitive to any suggestion they can’t handle the investigation, the law enforcement official said. It took several days last week to calm their anger over inaccurate reports that the FBI had dispatched a team to investigate, the official said. Malaysia Airlines defended its actions, saying there has never been a case where information gleaned from satellite signals alone could potentially be used to find the location of a missing airliner.
“Given the nature of the situation and its extreme sensitivity, it was critical that the raw satellite signals were verified and analyzed by the relevant authorities so that their significance could be properly understood,” the airline said in a statement. “This naturally took some time, during which we were unable to publicly confirm their existence.”
As the focus of the investigation shifted, so, too, has the focus of the search. Information from international and Malaysian officials indicate that the jet may have flown for more than seven hours after the last contact with the pilots.
Russian support for reclaiming Crimea majority has intensified amid weeks of relentless state television coverage of purported aggression toward ethnic Russians by the new Kiev government, which came to power after Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country in February.
Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. on March 8. The last satellite communication from the plane occurred at 8:11 a.m., Najib said, well past the scheduled arrival time in Beijing. That last communication, Najib said, was in one of two possible traffic corridors shown on a map released to the press.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
A northern arc stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and a southern arc spans from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. “Due to the type of satellite data, we are unable to confirm the precise location of the plane when it last made contact with the satellite,” Najib said.
Because the northern parts of the traffic corridor include some tightly guarded airspace over India, Pakistan, and even some U.S. installations in Afghanistan, U.S. authorities believe it more likely the aircraft crashed into waters outside of the reach of radar south of India, one U.S. official told CNN. If it had flown farther north, it’s likely it would have been detected by radar.
Nonetheless for the last 36 hours, the U.S. military and intelligence community has been reviewing all satellite imagery and electronic data it collects from the region for any sign of an explosion or crash, according to a U.S. official directly familiar with that effort.
Najib said authorities were ending search operations in the South China Sea and reassessing the deployment of assets. “This new satellite information has a significant impact on the nature and scope of the search operation,” he said.
Investigators, he said, have confirmed by looking at the raw satellite data that the plane in question was the Malaysia Airlines jet.
The same conclusion was reached by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the Malaysian authorities, all of whom were working separately with the same data, he said.
For the families and loved ones of those aboard Flight 370, Saturday was Day 8 of anguish. Some found comfort that there is no evidence the plane made impact.
The father of one passenger watched Najib’s news conference at a Beijing hotel. He said he hoped the plane was hijacked because that gave him reason to think his son was alive. “I hope they are alive, no matter how small the chance is,” he said.
The search that began last weekend now involves 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircraft, Najib said, and the relevant foreign embassies have been given access to the new information. China is sending technical experts to join the investigation, and two Chinese search vessels headed for the Strait of Malacca, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
After wrapping a search that lasted close to three days in the Gulf of Thailand, the Haikou missile destroyer is due to reach the Strait of Malacca late Saturday. Another vessel, the Yongxingdao, equipped with underwater robots and rescue boats, is set to join the search in the Strait of Malacca after concluding its search in the eastern part of the Gulf of Thailand.
Hours before Najib’s announcement, U.S. officials told CNN the flight had made drastic changes in altitude and direction after disappearing from civilian radar.
The more U.S. officials learn about the flight, “the more difficult to write off” the idea that some type of human intervention was involved, an official familiar with the investigation said.
The jetliner was flying “a strange path,” a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. Malaysian military radar showed the plane climbing to 45,000 feet — which is above its approved altitude limit — soon after disappearing from civilian radar screens and then dropping to 23,000 feet before climbing again, the official said.
There has been intense speculation,” Najib said. “We understand the desperate need for information on behalf of the families and those watching around the world. But we have a responsibility to the investigation and the families to only release information that has been corroborated.”
Barbara Starr reported from Washington, Jim Clancy from Kuala Lumpur and Chelsea J. Carter reported and wrote from Atlanta; CNN’s Moni Basu, Faith Karimi, Hamdi Alkhshali, Evan Perez, Saima Mohsin and Yuli Yang contributed to this report.
WHO ARE THE PASSENGERS ABOARD THE MISSING PLANE?
(CNN) – 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, spouses, children, soul mates and the dearest of friends.
The passengers of 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:
Families wait for news on Flight 370
Remembering the missing on Flight 370
Ju Kun’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, 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 had considered going to Malaysia to follow the story more closely, but decided against it because he is getting all the news from Malaysia anyway. The city rather stay home to wait, surrounded by his friends.
Paul 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 ringand fought back tears as she explained to CNN that he 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
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, 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.”
Hu Xianquan last spoke to her husband, Mao Tugui, 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.
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 Mohd Sofuan Ibrahim during their school days in Malaysia, but Ch’ng 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 great 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 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.”
In Mumbai, India, Archit Joshi, 23, desperately sought information on his classmate, Swawand 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’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.”
Neighbors Mandy Watt and Don Stoke say Mary and Rodney Burrows 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 soul mates.”
Catherine and Robert Lawton, 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.”
CNN’s Catherine E. Shoichet, Ray Sanchez, Steven Jiang, Bharati Naik, Mariano Castillo, Peter Shadbolt, Dayu Zhang, Serena Dong, Sophie Brown, Anjali Tsui, Euan McKirdy, Piers Morgan and Anderson Cooper contributed to this report.
Editor’s Note: Please join Georgia and me as we pray for Crimea, all of Ukraine, the world, the searchers, and the precious missing people aboard Malaysia Flight 370 and for their families and friends.
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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Waiting with the Lord or waiting without Him
makes all the difference in the world.
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EARLY MORNING SPECIAL FROM RAY – CRIMEA AND THE MISSING MALAYSIAN AIRLINER – March 16, 2014