The search for the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that disappeared without a trace more than a week ago was Monday expanded to include a wider area spanning from Australia to Kazakhstan.
Malaysia’s Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters that Australia and Indonesia were leading the search from the west of Sumatra to the south of the Indian Ocean. China and Kazakhstan are searching in the northern corridor from Laos to the Caspian Sea.
“I can confirm that search and rescue operations in the northern and southern corridors have already begun,” Hussein said. “Countries including Malaysia, Australia, China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan have already initiated search and rescue operations.” Flight MH 370 with 239 people on board disappeared on March 8 while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lampur. Most of the passengers of the Boeing 777-200 were Chinese nationals.
Hishammuddin said Australia sent a P-3 Orion aircraft to search in the region of the Cocos Islands and Christmas Island, while Malaysia deployed two ships and a Super Lynx helicopter.
Australia is to dispatch two more P-3 Orion aircraft and a C-130 Hercules, while a US P-8 Poseidon aircraft is expected in Perth to join search, he said.
China has criticized Malaysia over its handling of the crisis and failure to provide transparent information. Premier Li Keqiang called his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak to provide comprehensive details of the investigation as soon as possible, China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported.
“I understand that every day prolongs the anguish. I understand because Malaysia, too, is missing its sons and daughters. There were 50 Malaysians on board the plane,” Hishammuddin said.
“We would not withhold any information that could help,” he said.
“But we also have a responsibility not to release information until it has been verified by the international investigations team.” The refocus in search and rescue operations came after Najib on Saturday said the jet’s disappearance had been a “deliberate” act.
The aircraft’s communication system was intentionally disabled before it flew for up to seven hours toward an unknown destination, he said.
Police have since intensified the background checks on the passengers and crew. Hishammuddin said he asked China to re-check the passenger manifest containing the names of 154 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals.
In addition to a hijacking, investigators are exploring the possibility of a suicide bid by the pilot or co-pilot, sabotage, kidnapping and terrorism.
“Yes, we are looking at it,” Hishammuddin said when asked if suicide was being investigated.
A police source said investigators were studying the flight simulator found at the home of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 52.
The experienced pilot is a member of Malaysia’s opposition party, whose leader, Anwar Ibrahim, was convicted of sodomy a few hours before the jet disappeared.
“So far there’s no evidence politics was involved in this incident,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
The source confirmed that authorities had found nothing so far to link aircraft engineer Khairul Amri Selamat, a Malaysia, to any wrongdoing.
Malaysia Airlines said the co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid and not Zaharie is most likely to have made the final spoken communication with air traffic control in Kuala Lumpur before the aircraft disappeared from radar.
“Initial investigation indicates that it was the co-pilot who spoke the last time it was recorded on the tape,” said Ahmad Jauhari Yahya the airline’s chief executive.
He quoted the voice from the cockpit as saying, “All right, goodnight,” was at about 1:19 am on March 8 (1719 GMT, March 7), 12 minutes after the last transmission of data from the jet’s ACARS communications system.
Ahmad Jauhari said mobile phone companies supplied no evidence that anyone on board had tried to call or send text messages after the aircraft vanished.
“So far we have not had any evidence from any telephone company of any number trying to (make) contact,” he said. “We are still checking. There are millions of records that they have to process.” Media reports said the mobiles of some of the passengers on the missing MH 370 flight were still ringing days after the plane disappeared.