Pakistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the Taliban all deny knowing planes whereabouts Satellite data suggests MH370 could be anywhere in either of two vast corridors that arc through much of Asia: one stretching north from Laos to the Caspian, the other south from west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra into the southern Indian Ocean west of Australia. Aviation officials in Pakistan, India, and Central Asian countries Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - as well as Taliban militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan - said they knew nothing about the whereabouts of the plane. ‘The idea that the plane flew through Indian airspace for several hours without anyone noticing is bizarre,’ a defence ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan, who are seeking to oust foreign troops and set up an Islamic state, said the missing plane had nothing to do with them. ‘It happened outside Afghanistan and you can see that even countries with very advanced equipment and facilities cannot figure out where it went,’ he said. ‘So we also do not have any information as it is an external issue.’ A commander with the Pakistani Taliban, a separate entity fighting the Pakistani government, said the fragmented group could only dream about such an operation. We wish we had an opportunity to hijack such a plane, he told Reuters by telephone from the lawless North Waziristan region. China, which has been vocal in its impatience with Malaysian efforts to find the plane, called on its smaller neighbour to ‘immediately’ expand and clarify the scope of the search. About two-thirds of the passengers aboard MH370 were Chinese. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he had spoken to Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak by telephone, and had offered more surveillance resources in addition to the two P-3C Orion aircraft his country has already committed. Malaysian Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said diplomatic notes had been sent to all countries along the northern and southern search corridors, requesting radar and satellite information as well as land, sea and air search operations. The Malaysian navy and air force were also searching the southern corridor, he said, and U.S. P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft were being sent to Perth, in Western Australia, to help scour the ocean. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2583076/Was-Malaysian-pilots-message-base-secret-distress-signal-Officials-investigate-possibility-unusual-sign-indicated-wrong.html
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 07:41:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015