Malaysian government does not rule out sabotage, hijack of missing plane Atir Khan, March 15, 2014 Seven days after sudden disappearance of MH 370 as it took off from the Malaysian skies the whereabouts of five Indians along with 234 foreign passengers still remains a mystery. Malaysian transport minister Hishamuddin Hussein did not rule out sabotage and said he cannot confirm that the plane was not hijacked. The minister said support of US experts from National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration was being taken to see if any satellite data could be retrieved to track the flight path, which so far has not been able to be plotted. It is not a normal search operation. And our focus should be to find the aircraft and its blackbox. What has further complicated the situation is the Malaysian Govt not committing itself to any one possibility. Investigations are being carried out on all four possibilities-engine failure, pilot error, hijack or mid-air explosion. As the aircraft and its fuselage is yet to be found. As per the available records Beijing-bound flight took off at 12:41 am on Saturday. It last transmitted data from the engine at 1:07 am, at 1:21 the aircraft transponders data was lost mysteriously. At 1:29 the flight lost contact with the Air Traffic Control. The Malaysian military radar had spotted the movement of an unidentified civilian aircraft around this time however it has not been able to confirm whether it was the same flight. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the aircraft continued to ping signals to the US satellites even as late as 2:15 am. Aviation experts believed that something drastic could have happened to the aircraft during its flight at 1:21 am, when its transponder data was lost. Post crash investigations expert VK Chandna said this happens when there is disconnection of power to the aircraft. Possibility of a structural damage to the tail or any other critical part of the aircraft cannot be ruled out. The reason being merely eight minutes after transponders connection was lost the aircraft was lost from the radar too. There are chances that the pilot could have lost control but the aircraft couldnt have fully disintegrated and could have continued its forward movement thus emitting signals. The search and rescue operations have now been extended. So far 13 countries, 57 naval ships and 48 aircraft are involved in the massive SAR operations extending over an area of 37,000 square nautical miles. The minister expressed his gratitude to all the countries extending support in the operations, which have no parallels in expeditions of this magnitude. In this context Indian Navys search operations assume special significance as the indications suggest that the aircraft could have turned around towards the Indian Ocean. Indian Navy has sent three warships for this purpose. The minister also said the reports of oil slick giving rise to the possibility that the slick could be result of crash into the sea was probed and it was found that the slick had no contents of Aviation Turbine Fuel thus the possibility was ruled out. While the search for the missing aircraft has been extended to Andaman Islands and the Indian Ocean, efforts to trace the aircraft in the China Sea continue. Meanwhile special prayers were offered during Friday namaaz in mosques of Malaysia for an early detection and safety of the passengers onboard the flight. Vastu experts have also suggested that there is a possibility of the aircraft being detected before Saturday. Local Malaysians also offered a special Bomah ritual in which magic carpets and coconuts were used to perform the special prayers in this regard.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 15:36:58 +0000
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