DUBAI // A businessman has flown from Dubai to Beijing to comfort his young nephews, whose parents were passengers on the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight that has been missing since Saturday.
Mohan Mukherjee, 40, travelled to the Chinese capital with his mother Uma and father Malay, so the family can be close to Mirav and Miles, aged 9 and 2, who are being looked after by their maternal grandmother.
Muktesh Mukherjee, 42, an Indian-born Canadian, and his Chinese wife Bai Xiaomo, 37, were among 239 passengers and crew on flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
The Boeing 777 lost contact with civil aviation ground controllers two hours after it took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on Saturday. The search for traces of the plane continues, with Malaysia denying that its efforts are in disarray after China said the hunt was chaotic.
The Mukherjees are among hundreds of anxious relatives across the world who fear the worst.
“We’re just trying to cope and we’re all trying to stay strong for the children of my brother and sister-in-law; they are what is keeping us going,” said Mohan, who runs an IT business in Dubai and has lived here for more than seven years.
“It is a very difficult time for all of us but we are managing. We have the family around, so we are getting through this.”
Muktesh was vice president of China operations for the US company Xcoal Energy and Resources and was heading back to Beijing with his wife.
He usually visited Dubai once a year, Mohan said, although his last visit was in 2012.
Their parents also live in Dubai, where Malay, who is well-regarded in the steel industry, set up a consultancy a few years ago.
Conflicting reports about the plane’s last known position have added to the family’s grief.
“We are as much in the dark as the other families are,” Mohan said.
“Right now we have not heard anything more than what is being reported and we go by what is in the news. Although Malaysia Airlines has given us some news.”
The strain has extended to other relatives also in Beijing.
“We are all in a state of flux; we don’t know what to think or feel,” said Milan Mukherjee, an uncle who landed in Beijing from India a day after the plane’s disappearance.
Relatives are shaken because this is the second air tragedy for the family.
Mohan Kumaramangalam, Muktesh’s maternal grandfather, was killed in a plane crash in Delhi in 1973. Mr Kumaramangalam was a federal minister in the late prime minister Indira Gandhi’s cabinet.
“All this makes it even more difficult to deal with this news,” said Manoj Kumar Mukherjee, another uncle, who lives in Kolkata.
But it is on the missing couple’s two young children, Mirav and Miles, that the family will focus their attention.
“Handling the children is the challenge because they are so young,” Manoj said.
“What do you say to them? It is very difficult for the family because there is little information and no concrete conclusion can be drawn, even after so many days. The family wants and needs to be together now.”
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Favourite book: Asking for my favourite book has to be one of the hardest questions. However a current favourite would be Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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The biog
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