Partner of MH370 passenger tries to lead 'normal' life

At about 9 am on March 8, Sarah Bajc heard the news that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was missing.

Her fiance Philip Wood, 50, was one of the 239 people onboard.

"I crashed," Bajc, 48, told China Daily.

The two US citizens met two-and-a-half years ago in Beijing.

They had planned to start a new life in Kuala Lumpur. Bajc was supposed to join Wood, an executive of IT giant IBM, in the Malaysian capital in June after she completed the school term as an economics and business teacher at Harrow International School Beijing.

Bajc could not cope with work for the first three days after she heard the devastating news about MH370.

But when China Daily met Bajc on Friday, she seemed to be in a calmer state of mind than most family members of the 154 Chinese passengers of MH370.

Since the plane's disappearance, many of the families have been waiting in agony at Beijing's Metropark Lido Hotel for news of the plane. The ongoing multinational search effort has so far yielded few results, with the focus on finding the black box data recorders in the remote Indian Ocean.

Bajc said she is making an effort to return to a normal life, as her way to deal with the pain.

She also suggested the Chinese family members return home instead of staying at the hotel.

"These people are already in emotional shock. Now you take them out of their comfort area and put them into a cold and non-home environment without their extended family members and friends," Bajc said.

Bajc said she chooses to spend more time at her school, which has "a lot of positive energy".

"It's normal. I think that's really very important to my emotional health."

The grieving families also need to at least try to keep life going as normal, she said.

"If you don't get through that and return to daily life, you will become worn out by the crisis. That doesn't help you."

Bajc has set up a Facebook page "Finding Philip Wood", dedicated to her fiance and the missing flight. The page had more than 35,700 "likes" as of Sunday evening.

She has also spoken to more than 100 aviation experts to try to make sense of the incident. She said she finds it hard to believe that a plane the size of a Boeing 777 would not leave any debris in the search area.

"It's impossible that there's nothing there."

She also believes that her "soulmate" is still alive.

"I absolutely feel he is connected to me. I dream about him a good deal. All very positive dreams," Bajc said.

- Hou Liqiang