Coronial doors close on MH370

Authorities have all but ruled out a coronial inquest into the disappearance of flight MH370.

Grieving widow Danica Weeks: ‘It would give us another avenue’. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Australian families’ pleas for ­answers in the MH370 mystery appear set to remain unheeded with authorities all but ruling out a coronial inquest.

With only France continuing to investigate the 4½-year-old mystery, a coronial inquest has been suggested as the best option for bereaved Australian families to get answers.

Former Boeing 777 captain Byron Bailey, who has campaigned tirelessly for more transparency around the MH370 search and investigation, said a coronial inquest was needed to examine the deaths of Australian passengers.

Danica Weeks, whose New Zealand-born husband Paul was among the passengers, said she would very much like to see an inquest held, given Malaysia’s final report on the plane’s dis­appearance “gave us nothing”.

“I think it would be a good course of action,” said Ms Weeks, who moved to Queensland from Western Australia with her two sons following the loss of her husband on MH370.

“It would give us another ­avenue and provide a new set of eyes to review the evidence available. We’ve had the report and that gave us nothing so a ­coronial inquest could be a step forward.”

Jeanette Maguire, whose sister and brother-in-law Cathy and Bob Lawton were travelling with Brisbane friends, Mary and Rodney Burrows, said the MH370 mystery needed to be solved, as much for the families as for the future of aviation.

“I don’t know where to go with all of this anymore,” said Ms Maguire. “All I do know is that we need answers, we need to keep searching, we need to find MH370. We need facts and we can’t give up.”

Restrictions on coronial inquiries to the victim’s state of ­residence virtually rule out an inquest anywhere but Queensland.

Four of the six Australians on board the Boeing 777 were from Brisbane. The other Australians on board, Gu Naijun and Li Yuan of Sydney, were on their way to Beijing to be reunited with their young daughters and are not believed to have had any family in Australia.

A spokesman for the Coroners Court of Queensland said the MH370 matter was investigated in 2015 and death certificates were issued for the four Brisbane residents on board.

“As the suspected deaths occurred overseas, the state coroner sought a direction from the Attorney-General to enable him to investigate the deaths and to determine whether the Queensland passengers were deceased,” said the spokesman.

“Having regard to the circumstances associated with the disappearance of MH370, the state coroner did not consider that an inquest was in the public interest.”

He said the only way for an inquest to be reconsidered would be in the event of considerable new evidence emerging.

Coronial inquests conducted on behalf of six NSW families bereaved by MH17, which was shot down over eastern Ukraine, found the deaths were part of a gross mass murder.