Family members of passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 mark anniversary of jet's disappearance

Vowing never to give up on the desperate search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, family members of those aboard the plane wore symbolic T-shirts and released white balloons Sunday as they marked the anniversary of the jet's disappearance.

Gatherings were held in Kuala Lumpur, where the flight departed on March 8, 2014, and Beijing, where it was headed when it vanished with 239 people aboard. Despite an intensive yearlong search, no trace of the Boeing 777 has been found.

"My daughter asks me every day, 'Where is Daddy? Why isn't he answering his phone?'" a teary-eyed Kelly Wen from China, whose husband was on the plane, said at a gathering at a Kuala Lumpur mall to mark the anniversary.

The more than 100 people who gathered wore white T-shirts with the picture of an airplane and bearing the words "Search on," as a video tribute of the passengers and crew members was played.

About 30 family members later went on stage for speeches and a group photo.

One man dedicated a poem to his cousin Anne Daisy, who was aboard the plane. "You have been hidden from me. I don't know where to search. When will we once again meet?" Raymund Gagarin said.

Daisy's 27-year-old daughter, Grace Subathirai Nathan, then gave a speech in tribute to her mother. Nathan, who helped organize the event, said she was in London when the tragedy occurred.

"Every day is like a living nightmare. I miss my mother so much. She was to me my everything," an emotional Nathan said. "It is so important that we have some form of closure. It is so important not to give up on the people that we love."

The families released white balloons to send "messages of hope to our loved ones wherever they may be," Nathan said. (AP)

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