“had someone pick up the calls”
I believe that they only said they heard the phones ringing. I did not see any reports of phones being ‘picked up’.
MISSING MH370: Fishermen Find Life Raft Near PD (Port Dickson / Malacca Straits)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3132601/posts
About the phone calls - I read the article and families said someone picked up the calls and terminated manually.