Eliminating Deaths and Abuse in Custody Together (Edict) president M Visvanathan said a probe could be conducted via an inquest or a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI).

“The family members of the 239 missing passengers and crew need closure. An investigation must be conducted in a transparent manner,” said Visvanathan in conjunction with the ninth anniversary of the plane’s disappearance.

Visvanathan, a lawyer, regularly represents families in inquest proceedings, especially in custodial deaths in police lockups and prisons.

He said that while authorities here and elsewhere were still harbouring hopes of locating the aircraft’s black box to determine what happened, too much time had already passed.

Visvanathan said family members were now in a position to rely on Section 108 of the Evidence Act 1950 to presume their missing loved ones dead as more than seven years have gone by since their disappearance.

The police, the department of civil aviation and the Malaysian army have each conducted their own investigations into the matter, he noted.

However, he said, the government, led over the past nine years by its four preceding prime ministers, had done little to bring comfort to the family members of the missing passengers and crew.

“Let us hope this government will hold a probe into the disappearance of the aircraft. The authorities can submit their findings and family members can participate in the proceedings before a public declaration is made,” he said.

Visvanathan said a lot of speculation and unsupported theories had been put forward on social media, giving rise to confusion among the public.

Two days ago, transport minister Loke Siew Fook said the government would consider conducting further search operations if new and credible information becomes available regarding the potential location of the aircraft.

Flight MH370 vanished from radar screens about two hours after its departure from KLIA enroute to Beijing on the evening of March 8, 2014.

Its disappearance remains one of aviation’s greatest mysteries as the aircraft has not been found despite the longest and most expensive search mission in history.