Sarah Bajc pictured with partner Philip Wood, who was on board Flight MH370 (Picture: Sarah Bajc)
In March 2014, Sarah Bajc’s partner Philip Wood boarded Flight MH370, and she never saw him again.
Here Sarah, 58, shares her experience of that fateful time, and how she’s gone on to rebuild her life and find love again…
It’s been ten years since flight MH370 vanished, and with it, my partner Philip.
The memories of that day in March 2014, despite the passing of time, remain incredibly vivid and painful and I still remember the last words Philip said to me: “I love you, I can’t wait to see you.”
Both American, Philip, 50, and I met in 2011 in Beijing. I’d lived in China for five years, working as a teacher, and he’d moved six months before to work in IT.
We’d both been married before and had children, and we bonded over our mutual love of travel, music and good food. Philip made me feel complete, he was my soulmate, and after an unhappy marriage, I felt so lucky to have found him.
SarahI didn’t tell new partner Ernesto about what had happened to Philip until they’d been together for around six months (Picture: Sarah Bajc)
In early 2014, Philip was offered a new job in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and we decided to relocate there. He moved in the February, but I had to wait until June, when the school term ended.
The last time I saw him in person was February 2014, when I’d flown to KL to visit him. Between then and March, we were in contact daily by phone and Skype, excitedly planning our next chapter.
We last spoke on March 7, before he boarded the flight from KL to Beijing. He was flying back for a few days to help me pack up our apartment, and after a month apart, I couldn’t wait to see him.
After making arrangements for a driver to collect him from the airport the following morning, he told me he loved me and couldn’t wait to see me, then he hung up.
Timeline of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappearance
March 8, 2014:
12.41am: Flight MH370 departs Kuala Lumpur International Airport with 227 passengers and a dozen crew members on board.
1.07am: In what would be the plane’s last transmission to air traffic control, all seemed fine on Flight 370’s route to Beijing.
1.21am: The plane’s transponder – which pings electronic messages to radar systems about the plane’s altitude, speed, etc – stops communicating. This is the first sign of trouble.
1.21-1.28am: Plane appears to fly off course.
2.15am: MH370 drops off military radars as it heads west over the Strait of Malacca. Malaysian air traffic controllers raise the alarm half an hour later.
6.30am: MH370 fails to land at Beijing International Airport.
About 11am: Family members of the missing passengers and crew gather in the airport.
March 9-10, 2014: An initial search of the Gulf of Thailand turns up nothing, Investigators shift to an area within a 50-nautical-mile radius of Flight 370’s last known position.
March 15, 2014: Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, says the plane flew for roughly five or so hours after being veering off – deliberately or otherwise. Police turn their attention to the two co-pilots.
April 30, 2014: After Australia gets involved, a surface search doesn’t find the aircraft. Aussie officials believe the pilot may have become incapacitated and the craft flew on autopilot before crashing.
January 29, 2015: Malaysia formerly declares MH370 an accident.
July 29, 2015: First piece of plane debris – a snapped-off wing, called a flaperon – washes up on Réunion.
December 2015-March 2016: More pieces are recovered, though experts aren’t entirely convinced they’re all from MH370.
January 17, 2017: Australia suspends its main search until more evidence of the plane’s final resting place is found.
March 3, 2024: Breaking a years-long silence, Malaysian officials say they are considering proposals for a new search effort by a US exploration firm.
I had no idea I’d never hear his voice again.
The next morning, the driver called me around 8.30am from the airport to tell me the flight was showing as ‘Delayed’.
When I searched the flight number online to get some information, my blood ran cold.
‘Flight MH370 Missing’ read the online news headline.
My hands were shaking as I immediately phoned a friend who worked in the US Embassy in Beijing, desperately hoping he’d tell me the story was a hoax.
But he confirmed the flight was missing, no-one knew where it was.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014
Switching on the TV, I sat in shock as the news channels began to report the plane’s disappearance, speculating it had crashed into the sea.
I was strangely calm, not emotional, telling myself the crash site would be found soon, and Philip would be among the survivors.
It never crossed my mind that day the plane wouldn’t be found, and a decade on I’d be no closer to knowing what happened to Philip.
Up until the first anniversary in March 2015, I held onto hope that Philip would come home to me.
Despite months of searching, there was no sign of the plane, so perhaps one of the many theories swirling around – like the plane being hijacked by terrorists and flown to the Middle East, or it being stranded on an island- were true, and the 239 passengers and crew were still alive.
It was so hard to let go of that hope and accept he was most likely dead, but as the months passed, I had to.
Pieces of MH370 discovered so far (Picture: Metro.co.uk)
I believed Philip was dead, but I was still desperate to know what had happened to him, and how a huge plane could possibly just disappear like that and not be found.
I moved to KL as Philip and I had planned, and lived there until 2016 on my own, teaching and campaigning, along with other MH370 families, for answers as to what happened to our loved ones.
When my two year teaching contract ended in 2016, I wanted a fresh start, somewhere new. I’d been in such a painful limbo since Philip had disappeared, mentally and physically exhausted from grief and campaigning, and I knew I needed to start over.
I relocated to Panama, where I took a teaching job, with the plan of buying a beach property and opening my own little B&B, which had been a dream of mine for many years.
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I’d barely had time to unpack when, just weeks after arriving, I met Ernesto, 57.
He owned a mountain property which students from my school went to on a field trip.
Handsome, charismatic and kind, there was an instant connection between us.
I’d been single since March 2014 and although I’d been hoping for companionship and fun, I hadn’t expected to fall in love again, and so fast.
At first, it was difficult. I still loved Philip and had he suddenly appeared, I didn’t know which man I’d have chosen. The end of my relationship with him had been forced on me, it hadn’t been my choice.
I didn’t tell Ernesto about what had happened to Philip until we’d been together for around six months. I didn’t want it to influence how he viewed me, I wanted him to get to know ‘Sarah’ first, not ‘Sarah whose partner was on MH370’.
When I did tell him, I was astounded when he confided that his sister had died in a plane crash in Panama in the early ‘90s, and he’d been the one to identify her body.
Sarah found love again with Ernesto (Picture: Sarah Bajc)
Even though our experiences weren’t exactly the same, he had so much empathy for what I’d been through, and I for him, and it only added to our deep connection.
We married in 2017 and although it was hard taking that step, I knew Philip would’ve wanted me to live a full and happy life, and him and Ernesto would have got on so well.
Today, Ernesto and I run an eco beach resort together called Camaroncito.
It’s a dream come true for me, and to work with this man I love and share my life with him, I feel so much gratitude. I know Philip would approve and my children, who all live in the US, are so happy for me.
Sarah and Ernesto now run eco beach resort Camaroncito (Picture: Sarah Bajc)
Just because I’ve accepted Philip is gone doesn’t mean I’ve given up wanting to know what happened to him and his fellow passengers.
I believe there has been a government cover up about what happened to the plane, but feel sure one day the truth will come out, either because the wreckage will be found, or a whistleblower will step forward. Eventually we will know.
Only then will I, and the other bereaved families, finally get the closure and peace we deserve.