Kota Kinabalu: A woman pilot is among those lending support to the family of a crew member of the MH370.Captain Nadira Ramli, 26, an AirAsia pilot and whose father is also a senior MAS pilot, was given a month's leave by AirAsia to comfort the mum of co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, a close friend.
Fariq, the youngest son of Selangor Public Works Department (JKR) Deputy Director, Abdul Hamid Mad Daud, was assisting Captain Zaharie bin Ahmad Shah on the flight that went missing enroute to Beijing early Saturday.
Nadira is the youngest child of Capt. Ramli Ibrahim and Nancy Jipanis of Penampang. She is reportedly keeping Fariq's mother company at an undisclosed hotel in Kuala Lumpur.
"We are grieving. I can't say anything at this point. I haven't spoken to my daughter yet," Jipanis told Daily Express, when contacted in Kuala Lumpur.
Fariq, who began his career with MAS in 2007, and Nadira have known each other for nine years. They studied together at the Flying School in Langkawi. It is believed that the couple was planning to get married.
A relative in Kota Kinabalu, who declined to be named, described Nadira as calm in the face of adversity and a pillar of strength to Fariq's mother who had hardly slept for three days.
The duo are also upset with the media as well as Netizens on social media, who are said to be churning out all sorts of stories about the missing aircraft.
"Nadira is positive about the incident and told her family not to listen to the TV. Despite what has happened, she still has a glimmer of hope," said the relative, adding that Fariq's relatives from Kelantan are also in KL.
According to the relative, Fariq is nice and handsome, polite, kind and helpful. "Nadira's family likes him very much.
"Whenever Nancy wants to send me anything from KL, she would do so through him. He has met most members of Nancy's family in Sabah."
