RTM Updates - MH370 14/03/14 (Sameday) Selangor Col/Snd 400 With no new details, the search for the missing Malaysian Airline MH370 has now been pushed further east into South China Sea and into the Indian Ocean. As the search entered its seventh day Friday, Malaysias acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein stressed that the priority remains finding the plane. He told reporters at a packed press conference at the Sama Sama hotel near KLIA in Subang, Selangor. Thirteen countries are now involved in the operation with 57 ships and 48 aircraft. A US Navy official said the destroyer USS Kidd was being sent to the Indian Ocean, on the opposite side of the Malaysian peninsula from where contact was lost, to investigate. MH370 with 239 crew and passengers disappeared from the radar screen at 1.30am Saturday enroute to Beijing. As to the different speculation on the whereabouts of the plane, Hishammuddin said they would not publicly release any information until the information has been verified and corroborated. He said the search had been extended to both sides of Peninsular Malaysia as nothing had been found yet. He refused to address US media reports, citing unnamed US officials, that the Boeing 777 had flown for an additional four or five hours after vanishing from civilian radar. One of the reports were based on information that the planes communication system continued to ping a satellite for up to four hours after it disappeared early Saturday. On the possibility of flight MH370 making a turn back towards the Strait of Malacca, Hishammuddin said the information could not be fully confirmed. He added they could also not confirm the possibility of a hijacking on board the plane or whether the data transponder was deliberately shut off. Investigators, he said, are looking at all possibilities. Hishammuddin also gave the assurance that the welfare of the passengers families, including those in China, are taken care of, and that he is communicating with Chinas leaders daily while MAS has deployed about 100 of its employees to China for that purpose.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 03:15:54 +0000
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