The wife and two of Ghyslain Wattrelos’ children disappeared aboard the Kuala Lumpur flight to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Since then, he has been denouncing the inconsistencies in the searches of the aircraft that complicate him and his family, his other son, and the mourning of a family.
Four years ago, his wife and two of his children, Hadrien and Amber, disappeared aboard a plane from Malaysia Airlines, somewhere in the Indian Ocean. The aircraft was to connect Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Beijing. Since then, Ghyslain Wattrelos is struggling to understand what happened to this Boeing 777 and its 239 passengers. Several pieces of debris have been found, but the circumstances of the tragedy have never been clearly established. Between anger and sharp pain, this engineer tells in a book, his daily life since March 8, 2014, where everything has rocked.
LE FIGARO. – For four years, what is your view of the research done?
GHYSLAIN WATTRELOS. – When we understand that research is not done in the right scope, at first, we say that they are broken arms. But as we go along, we say that it cannot only be broken arms, that it is not only incompetence, there is something else. The official version reports four unexplained course changes in the aircraft’s supposed final flight path. But they do not provide us with proof of what they are saying.
Why do you doubt this official version?
The official version provides no answer. Even in the event of a diversion, and that the plane would have voluntarily cut any means of communication, it is only the civil controllers who no longer detect the device. Military radars are however planned for that. Seven countries should have captured the plane on their radar, as Australia, not to mention the United States and China who monitor the area. So stop saying anything. Some of these soldiers know a piece of the facts. There are not only two people in the know, there are lots of people who have a little bit of history. These people, today, they cannot express themselves. Because this story is dark, unspeakable. But governments and geopolitical relations are changing
Do you think that French justice, in particular Judge Carole Ramet, is working effectively on the case?
French judges, I trust them. For me, it’s the only independent investigation in the world. The problem is that they do not get any information, not even from our own country. The Office of Investigation and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) did not report. The DGSE must also have elements. And then, France has never provided the satellite photos of high quality that it has in its possession.
Which other countries do not cooperate with the research according to you?
The United Kingdom and the United States. The first, with the aeronautical company Rolls-Royce and Inmarsat [note: satellite telecommunication company] that does not give the sources of its raw data made to the survey. The second with Boeing, who does not disclose any information. Not to mention the FBI, which recovered the pilot’s flight simulator and never provided it. From the beginning, the most important thing is to recover this data. Maybe at this point, I’ll start believing the official version. For the moment I really doubt it.
You are no more fond of Francois Hollande and the state’s inaction under his mandate. Is there an evolution since the arrival of Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée?
I do not know. All the people with whom I was in contact under François Hollande, I have not heard from since. So I made a letter to Emmanuel Macron, asking him to receive me to tell me what France knows. The silence of the state is extremely disturbing, it is a sign of great embarrassment vis-à-vis this story. France knows things she cannot say.
Regarding your third child, Alexander, who was not on the plane, you repeatedly declare that you owe him the truth. Why?
I do not want it to be his fight. It happened to him at 21, we have something else to do at this age. me at 21, the world was in front of me, life was beautiful, I was full of hope. I wish he lived that too. This investigation takes me to a world a little black. I tried to restrain him when he wanted to help me. I see people completely crazy, I do not want to plunge him into this dark world. He asks me to keep him informed. The day I know the truth, I’ll tell him.
What is his view of these past four years?
I do not know. We do not see each other so often. He works in Switzerland and he is in love. When we are together, he will never tell me if it’s not right. I will never tell him that it’s not right either. We protect each other. In reality, we avoid talking about it. The moments are rare, we want it to be good times. It’s hard for me, but probably even more so for him. I talk about it, especially in the media, it’s a little bit my therapy. I am followed by a shrink, refused him to do it
Regarding your wife and two children, you say, “I was just very lucky to cross their path, to be part of their lives.” Is it difficult to mourn in the absence of a body?
It’s complicated for me. To mourn, I do not really know what that means. But little by little, I understood that it was, first of all, to accept that they will not come back. I wondered for a long time, from when can we estimate that they are dead? It is complicated. And then, from the moment I started to think of them with a smile, to think of the good times, I thought it was that, to mourn.
— from “Flight MH370, a devious life”, Ghyslain Wattrelos, with Gaëlle Legenne, Flammarion, Paris, February 2018