NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Wife questioned over MH370 captain's thoughts prior to doomed flight

Daily Mail
8 Mar, 2016 05:14 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Sakinab Shah, sister of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, holds up her mobile phone with her last photo of her brother. Photo / AP

Sakinab Shah, sister of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, holds up her mobile phone with her last photo of her brother. Photo / AP

The wife of MH370's captain has gone into hiding and is refusing to answer questions over her husband's state of mind two years after the jet disappeared with 239 on board.

Faizah Hanun has been questioned several times by Malaysian police and FBI investigators who have asked her about rumours she and pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had separated.

The 53-year-old pilot and his wife had continued to live under the same roof in Kuala Lumpur, despite the split, it is claimed.

What she has told investigators is understood to have been an important factor in the interim conclusions to be released about the airline's fate.

But she has refused to reveal intimate details about her husband's thoughts and behaviour leading up to him taking control of the doomed Boeing 777.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Shah and his wife are reported by friends to have continued living under the same roof in an upmarket part of Kuala Lumpur, despite being separated.

But whether the marriage breakdown would have led to him killing himself and all on board the jet is still unknown.

The Malaysia Airline MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur and disappeared en-route to Beijing on March 8, 2014, two years ago today.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A new report into the disappearance released today failed to shed any new light on what may have happened to the missing jet.

In Australia, Irene Burrows - whose son Rodney and his wife Mary were on board the plane as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing - said: "I'm convinced the pilot did this terrible thing."

Police carry a piece of debris found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion. Photo / Getty Images
Police carry a piece of debris found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion. Photo / Getty Images

Speaking to MailOnline, Mrs Burrows said: "I believe he took the plane up high until the oxygen ran out, causing everyone to lose consciousness before the oxygen bags dropped down and then the auto-pilot took over and nobody knew anything when it came down."

Mrs Burrows, 86, and her 88-year-old husband George, suffered a second tragedy that year when their step-granddaughter died on MH17 after it was shot down over Europe.

Discover more

Opinion

What now in the hunt for MH370?

10 Mar 01:17 AM
World

MH370 pilot practised suicide route

23 Jul 04:32 AM

"But at least we know what happened to that plane and we have been able to grieve," she said at her home in Biloela, Queensland.

"But we are only left to wonder what happened to MH370 and while our grieving for all those on that plane continues, life must go on. We had all the family here at the house at the weekend and all the photographs came out and it was a very emotional time.

"Two years ago, before we heard the news about the plane missing, we were just two ordinary people having a quiet day just like any other - and then our world was turned upside down.

Possible photos of Malaysian flight MH370 found off Mozambique. Photo / Airlive.net
Possible photos of Malaysian flight MH370 found off Mozambique. Photo / Airlive.net

"I know that everybody is doing everything they can to find out what's happened but I just hope that George and I live long enough when, or if, the answer comes in. I know it must be the same for everyone who had someone on that plane - the 'not knowing' is the worst.

"I've often wondered if she and Rodney should have followed Mary's intuition and not got on that plane.

"She told other family members that she had a bad feeling about the flight before they took off, but I don't know any more than that."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

MH370 took off at 12.41am for a six-hour flight to Beijing with Captain Zaharie at the controls, assisted by co-pilot Fariq Hamid.

But as it flew over the South China Sea, heading towards the southern tip of Vietnam, it suddenly lost all contact with ground control. At Beijing airport families waiting to greet loved ones stared anxiously at the arrivals board, waiting to see the word "landed".

But it never appeared. The South China Sea was searched for signs of wreckage, before aviation and satellite experts agreed that radar and automatic electronic "handshakes" with the aircraft pointed to it turning back from its north-east course and heading across the Malaysian peninsula and in a south-easterly direction towards the southern Indian Ocean.

Sakinab Shah, sister of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, holds up her mobile phone with her last photo of her brother. Photo / AP
Sakinab Shah, sister of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, holds up her mobile phone with her last photo of her brother. Photo / AP

A detailed search using sophisticated underwater drones scouring 85,000sq km of the sea floor has to this day failed to find any clues as to where the aircraft came down, assuming it had continued flying until it ran out of fuel.

French investigators have yet to release a final report on the discovery of a flaperon - a wing part - found on the island of La Reunion, near the east coast of Africa, confirming that it is from MH370.

And the result of a detailed examination of another possible part found off the coast of Mozambique last week is also expected within days.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The metal parts have brought mixed feelings to families of the passengers, for the pieces suggest that the plane was smashed to pieces when it hit the sea - but it also takes them a step nearer to what many agree would be "closure".

"Maybe he will come back, maybe he won't," Maira Elizabeth Nari, 20, eldest daughter of MH370 chief steward Andrew Nari, said in Kuala Lumpur today. "Wherever they may be, I have never stopped praying to God to give them protection.

"Dead or alive, may God bless them all. You see us smile and laugh, but only God knows what is in our hearts and minds," she told the Bernama agency. "Your heart cries every night or at any time when you suddenly feel sad."

- Daily Mail

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

'Consistent with a phone': Alleged killer's lawyer questions police search

29 May 08:37 AM
Entertainment

Kath and Kim star Magda Szubanski faces cancer battle

29 May 07:12 AM
World

'Pure terror' at Liverpool parade: Suspect's neighbours 'shocked' by his arrest

29 May 05:47 AM

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from World

'Consistent with a phone': Alleged killer's lawyer questions police search

'Consistent with a phone': Alleged killer's lawyer questions police search

29 May 08:37 AM

A black object on Erin Patterson's window sill could be her missing phone, lawyer says.

Kath and Kim star Magda Szubanski faces cancer battle

Kath and Kim star Magda Szubanski faces cancer battle

29 May 07:12 AM
'Pure terror' at Liverpool parade: Suspect's neighbours 'shocked' by his arrest

'Pure terror' at Liverpool parade: Suspect's neighbours 'shocked' by his arrest

29 May 05:47 AM
UK to invest $2.3b in AI, hacking team for cyber warfare

UK to invest $2.3b in AI, hacking team for cyber warfare

29 May 04:12 AM
Explore the hidden gems of NSW
sponsored

Explore the hidden gems of NSW

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP