Grieving families of 154 people presumed killed when MH370 disappeared in 2014 remain hopeful of their survival, a new theory has indicated.

A group of Chinese families have denounced official findings on the whereabouts of the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight, pleading with government agencies to take further action.

In late 2015, investigators confirmed a plane part that washed up on an island in the Indian Ocean was from MH370, but families dismissed the finding.

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“We do not believe any of the series of official statements starting from 24 March 2014 up to and including that of 3 September 2015,” the statement read.

“There is no real proof justifying any of these statements.

“In the absence of proof to the contrary, we believe it is possible the missing may still be alive.

“If this is so, we would willingly grant to the perpetrators amnesty in return for the release of the missing.”

They also called on government officials to provide a similar offer.

Australian teams continue to search for the missing plane, which disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014 with 239 people onboard, including six Australians.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau officials are leading the search, which is focused along an arc in the southern Indian Ocean, based on information from satellite communications, radar and flight projections.

A spokesperson for the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, the Australian body coordinating local efforts, said the current search area was carefully calculated and that any theories suggesting it was elsewhere were not supported by hard evidence.

The spokesperson noted in January 2015, the Malaysia Government declared the disappearance an “accident” and that all onboard “were presumed to have lost their lives”.

A flaperon, part of the wing, was found on Reunion Island on July 29. Assessment concluded it was from the MH370.

The search, which had cost the Australian government alone about $90 million to December, was due to finish in June 2016, but families called on an extension.

The statement from Chinese families was also sent to ambassadors in Australia, Canada, China, France, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and the US.