SYDNEY: Relatives of passengers and crew on board Malaysia Airlines MH370 spoke of their emotional turmoil and agonising wait for news Thursday after reports emerged that a piece of the missing jet may have been found.
Aviation investigators are heading to the French, Indian Ocean island of La Reunion after a two-metre (six-foot) long piece of wreckage, which appeared to be part of a wing, was found Wednesday by people cleaning up a beach.
The discovery has raised hopes it could be from the Boeing 777 plane, which diverted from its Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing route shortly after takeoff on March 8 last year.
No trace of the plane, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew, has been found despite a massive surface and underwater search.
Some relatives said they had mixed feelings, as they struggled with a desire for closure and hopes that those on board might still be alive.
Sara Weeks, the sister of MH370 passenger Paul Weeks of New Zealand, said she "felt a bit sick" when she first saw the reports on television.
"There's not a day I don't think about (what happened)," she told Fairfax New Zealand.
"I'm hopeful, in another respect, I'm not. I guess while you don't know, you still hope.
"We need to know what happened... at least if it's confirmed as a part of the plane then we can go onto the next stage which is still pretty similar to where we were before -- what happened, where's the rest of the plane and where's my brother."
G. Subramanian, whose Malaysian son S. Puspanathan was on board, told AFP that his heart broke every time friends and relatives asked about the 34-year-old.
"I hope we can confirm this is from MH370. I want a closure to this mystery," he said, adding: "But we hold to the belief that Puspanathan is still alive."
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