One week gone; Malaysian Airlines plane with 239 onboard still missing

Saturday, 15 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Flight MH370 sent “pings” after going missing; Investigators focus on foul play

REUTERS: An investigation into the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner is focusing more on a suspicion the flight was deliberately diverted, as evidence suggests it was last headed out over the Andaman Islands, sources familiar with the Malaysian probe said. In a far more detailed description of military radar plotting than has been publicly revealed, two sources told Reuters that an unidentified aircraft that investigators suspect was missing Flight MH370 appeared to be following a commonly used navigational route when it was last spotted early on Saturday, northwest of Malaysia. That course - headed into the Andaman Sea and towards the Bay of Bengal - could only have been set deliberately, either by flying the Boeing 777-200ER jet manually or by programming the auto-pilot. A third investigative source said inquiries were focusing more on the theory that someone who knew how to fly a plane deliberately diverted the flight, with 239 people on board, hundreds of miles off its course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. “What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards,” said the source, a senior Malaysian police official. As one of the most baffling mysteries in the history of modern aviation remains unsolved after nearly a week, the latest radar evidence is consistent with the expansion of the search for the aircraft to the west of Malaysia, possibly as far as the Indian Ocean. There has been no trace of the plane nor any sign of wreckage as the navies and military aircraft of more than a dozen countries scour the seas across Southeast Asia. “It’s my understanding that based on some new information that’s not necessarily conclusive - but new information - an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters in Washington. Carney did not specify the nature of the new information. A statement from Malaysia’s ministry of transport said it was following all leads that might help locate the aircraft. Satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from the aircraft after it went missing on Saturday, but the signals gave no immediate information about where the jet was heading and little else about its fate, two sources close to the investigation said on Thursday. US experts are still examining the data to see if any information about its last location could be extracted, a source close to the investigation told Reuters. The “pings” indicated its maintenance troubleshooting systems were switched on and ready to communicate with satellites, showing the aircraft was at least capable of communicating after losing touch with air traffic controllers. The system transmits such pings about once an hour, according to the sources, who said five or six were heard. However, the pings alone are not proof that the plane was in the air or on the ground, they said. The last sighting of the aircraft on civilian radar screens came shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, less than an hour after taking off. It was flying as scheduled across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand on the eastern side of peninsular Malaysia, heading towards Beijing. However, Malaysia’s Air Force Chief said on Wednesday that an aircraft that could have been the missing plane was plotted on military radar at 2:15 a.m., 200 miles (320 km) northwest of Penang Island off Malaysia’s west coast. This position marks the limit of Malaysia’s military radar in that part of the country, a fourth source familiar with the investigation told Reuters. Malaysia says it has asked neighbouring countries for their radar data, but has not confirmed receiving the information. Indonesian and Thai authorities said on Friday they had not received an official request for such data from Malaysia. The fact that the plane - if it was MH370 - had lost contact with air traffic control and was invisible to civilian radar suggested someone on board had turned off its communication systems, the first two sources said. They also gave new details on the direction in which the unidentified aircraft was heading - following aviation corridors identified on maps used by pilots as N571 and P628 - routes taken by commercial planes flying from Southeast Asia to the Middle East or Europe. Despite the increased focus on the Indian Ocean, a senior Malaysia Airlines official expressed pessimism over the chances of finding the aircraft there. “We are actually searching that part of the geography, but the likelihood of the aircraft being there is probably very, very low,” Hugh Dunleavy, the airline’s Chief of Operations, told Reuters in Beijing on Friday.

Malaysian Airlines issues statement on MH370 incident

In a statement Malaysia Airlines yesterday reiterated that it will continue to give full support in cooperating with the search and rescue mission which is coordinated by the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia (DCA) under the purview of the Ministry of Transport, Malaysia. “Malaysia Airlines is fully aware of the on-going media speculations and we have nothing further to add to the information we have already provided,” the statement said. “Our primary focus at this point in time is to care for the families of the passengers and crew of MH370. This means providing them with timely information, travel facilities, accommodation, meals, medical and emotional support. Malaysia Airlines will continue to provide regular updates to the general public via the media and our website on all matters affecting MH370,” the airline added.