This is becoming more of a mystery every day like the Air France plane between Brazil and Paris in the Atlantic Ocean until it was finally discovered. That plane had I believe an outside frozen air speed indicator that messed up the on board navigation and likely caused a full or partial stall that wasn't detected in time, which eventually caused a crash in the middle of the Atlantic.
Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'a mystery'
| BBC News | - |
Malaysia's
civil aviation chief has said the fate of a missing Malaysia Airlines
jet remains "a mystery". Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said officials had not
ruled out hijacking as a cause of the plane's disappearance.
10 March 2014
Last updated at 05:27 ET
The possible sighting of a yellow life raft was investigated on Monday, but was found to be an unrelated object.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished from radar almost three days ago en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, with 239 people on board.
Relatives of the missing passengers have been told to prepare for the worst.
Malaysian officials dismissed the reports of possible debris being spotted in the sea
Relatives in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing are desperate for news of their loved ones
Malaysia's armed forces chief also said they were co-operating
with Chinese intelligence to identify the two passengers on board flight
MH370 who were travelling on stolen passports.
Malaysia's acting transport minister, Hishamuddin Hussein, said all of the relevant information concerning those two passengers had now been passed on to the various national intelligence agencies which were investigating the matter.
Earlier, China said the Malaysian authorities needed to "step up their efforts" to find the missing jet which had more than 150 Chinese nationals on board.
"The Malaysian side attaches importance to the incident with a sincere attitude, but in light of the situation, the Malaysian side needs to step up their efforts," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told reporters at a regular news briefing, the AFP news agency reports.
Commander William Marks from the US Seventh Fleet, which is
taking part in the search, says he expects the plane's flight recorders
to be floating in the water.
"In calm seas, if there were a soccer ball [football] or a basketball floating in the water, the radar could pick it up. They [flight recorders] typically have a radio beacon and so for example our P3 [radar] - if they are flying within a certain range of that - will pick up that radio beacon. We have not yet picked up anything, but that's typically what those black boxes contain."
There are now 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations taking part in the search in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia.
Late on Sunday, the Vietnamese authorities said two objects had been sighted in waters south of Vietnam which appeared to resemble aircraft parts, including a door.
The debris was in a similar area to a possible oil slick seen by Vietnamese navy planes on Saturday.
But Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said on Monday that this sighting had never been officially verified and could not be confirmed.
Samples of the oil had been collected and sent to a laboratory for analysis to see if it came from the plane, he said.
US Navy officials earlier said their aircraft had not seen any debris associated with commercial aircraft wreckage.
Passport theory
Malaysian military officials said on Sunday they were widening the search area because of indications the plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, may have turned back from its scheduled route shortly before vanishing from radar screens.
Commander William Marks from the US Seventh Fleet, which is taking part in the search, told the BBC the search area covered hundreds of kilometres.
"Just from the air we can see things as small as almost the size of your hand, or a basketball. So it's not a matter of if we can see it - it's an extremely large area."
Investigators are looking at all angles, including a possible terror attack. Counter-terrorism agencies and the FBI are involved in the operation.
The focus has been on two passengers who boarded the flight using stolen passports.
International police agency Interpol has confirmed the passengers were travelling with Italian and Austrian passports stolen in Thailand years ago.
There are 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations taking part in the search
The area being searched by air and sea covers hundreds of kilometres
They had purchased their tickets at the same time from China
Southern Airlines which shared the flight with Malaysia Airlines, had
consecutive ticket numbers and were both booked on the same onward
flight from Beijing to Europe on Saturday.
Ronald Noble, the secretary general of Interpol, said in a statement
that while it was too soon to speculate on any connection between the
theft and the plane's disappearance, it was "clearly of great concern
that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a
stolen passport listed in Interpol databases".
Five passengers booked on the flight did not board, and their luggage was consequently removed.
The BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing says relatives waiting for news are getting increasingly frustrated, saying they are not getting information in a timely manner.
They have complained that government officials have not visited the families, our correspondent adds.
Meanwhile, Malaysian King Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah offered his condolences to the passengers.
He said he and the Queen "would like to express our sympathy to the passengers and crew, especially to their family".
Malaysia Airlines is the country's national carrier, flying nearly 37,000 passengers daily to some 80 destinations worldwide.
On Monday, shares in Malaysia Airlines fell 18% to a record low.
end quote from:
Missing Malaysia Airlines plane 'a mystery'
Malaysia's acting transport minister, Hishamuddin Hussein: Search and rescue 'the main focus'
Malaysia's civil aviation chief has said the fate of a missing Malaysia Airlines jet remains "a mystery".
Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said officials had not ruled out hijacking as a cause of the plane's disappearance.The possible sighting of a yellow life raft was investigated on Monday, but was found to be an unrelated object.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished from radar almost three days ago en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, with 239 people on board.
Relatives of the missing passengers have been told to prepare for the worst.
Malaysian officials dismissed the reports of possible debris being spotted in the sea
Relatives in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing are desperate for news of their loved ones
Malaysia's acting transport minister, Hishamuddin Hussein, said all of the relevant information concerning those two passengers had now been passed on to the various national intelligence agencies which were investigating the matter.
Earlier, China said the Malaysian authorities needed to "step up their efforts" to find the missing jet which had more than 150 Chinese nationals on board.
"The Malaysian side attaches importance to the incident with a sincere attitude, but in light of the situation, the Malaysian side needs to step up their efforts," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman told reporters at a regular news briefing, the AFP news agency reports.
"In calm seas, if there were a soccer ball [football] or a basketball floating in the water, the radar could pick it up. They [flight recorders] typically have a radio beacon and so for example our P3 [radar] - if they are flying within a certain range of that - will pick up that radio beacon. We have not yet picked up anything, but that's typically what those black boxes contain."
There are now 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations taking part in the search in the seas off Vietnam and Malaysia.
Late on Sunday, the Vietnamese authorities said two objects had been sighted in waters south of Vietnam which appeared to resemble aircraft parts, including a door.
The debris was in a similar area to a possible oil slick seen by Vietnamese navy planes on Saturday.
As Alice Budisatrijo reports, Vietnamese ships are on standby to help at a naval base on the island of Phu Quoc
Samples of the oil had been collected and sent to a laboratory for analysis to see if it came from the plane, he said.
US Navy officials earlier said their aircraft had not seen any debris associated with commercial aircraft wreckage.
Passport theory
Continue reading the main story
"I believe you will come back alive," one young woman appeals
to her friend on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. Her good friend, his
wife, his brother and brother-in-law were all on board flight MH370,
which disappeared en route to Beijing.
"I want to know what you are doing now! Are you hungry and are you cold? You are a chubby guy. You can make it, right?"
"Time is killing our hope bit by bit," user RoseMiiiiira continues. "I can't believe I'm losing so many people so suddenly."
The wait has been agonising for the family members of the missing passengers who are waiting for news at a Beijing hotel. The Chinese government is ignoring them, they complain. Information from official sources is scarce and often conflicting.
In comparison, China's social media websites have been overwhelmed with millions of messages expressing sympathy for those who knew people on flight MH370.
"Ask Malaysian Airlines for more information, not the relatives," one user scolds Chinese journalists. "The families are sad enough. Do not surround them with your cameras. Give them some space and respect."
Social media reaction
"I want to know what you are doing now! Are you hungry and are you cold? You are a chubby guy. You can make it, right?"
"Time is killing our hope bit by bit," user RoseMiiiiira continues. "I can't believe I'm losing so many people so suddenly."
The wait has been agonising for the family members of the missing passengers who are waiting for news at a Beijing hotel. The Chinese government is ignoring them, they complain. Information from official sources is scarce and often conflicting.
In comparison, China's social media websites have been overwhelmed with millions of messages expressing sympathy for those who knew people on flight MH370.
"Ask Malaysian Airlines for more information, not the relatives," one user scolds Chinese journalists. "The families are sad enough. Do not surround them with your cameras. Give them some space and respect."
Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur
for Beijing at 00:41 local time on Saturday (16:41 GMT on Friday). But
radio contact was lost at 17:30 GMT, somewhere between Malaysia and
Vietnam.
Officials say they still have no idea what went wrong.Malaysian military officials said on Sunday they were widening the search area because of indications the plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, may have turned back from its scheduled route shortly before vanishing from radar screens.
Commander William Marks from the US Seventh Fleet, which is taking part in the search, told the BBC the search area covered hundreds of kilometres.
"Just from the air we can see things as small as almost the size of your hand, or a basketball. So it's not a matter of if we can see it - it's an extremely large area."
Investigators are looking at all angles, including a possible terror attack. Counter-terrorism agencies and the FBI are involved in the operation.
The focus has been on two passengers who boarded the flight using stolen passports.
International police agency Interpol has confirmed the passengers were travelling with Italian and Austrian passports stolen in Thailand years ago.
There are 40 ships and 34 aircraft from nine different nations taking part in the search
The area being searched by air and sea covers hundreds of kilometres
Five passengers booked on the flight did not board, and their luggage was consequently removed.
Continue reading the main story
Manifest for Flight MH370
- 153 Chinese including one child
- 38 Malaysians
- 7 Indonesians
- 6 Australians
- 5 Indians
- 4 French
- 3 Americans including one child
- 2 each from New Zealand, Ukraine and Canada
- One each from Russia, Taiwan, Italy, Netherlands and Austria ( although both Italy and Austria deny any of their nationals were onboard)
The passengers on the flight were
of 14 different nationalities. Two-thirds were from China, while others
were from elsewhere in Asia, North America and Europe.
China has sent a team of government officials to Kuala Lumpur to look into the case.The BBC's John Sudworth in Beijing says relatives waiting for news are getting increasingly frustrated, saying they are not getting information in a timely manner.
They have complained that government officials have not visited the families, our correspondent adds.
Meanwhile, Malaysian King Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah offered his condolences to the passengers.
He said he and the Queen "would like to express our sympathy to the passengers and crew, especially to their family".
Malaysia Airlines is the country's national carrier, flying nearly 37,000 passengers daily to some 80 destinations worldwide.
On Monday, shares in Malaysia Airlines fell 18% to a record low.
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